Clinical observation on renal pelvic and ureteral tumors

During the 18 years from October, 1971 to September, 1989, 40 patients with renal pelvic and ureteral tumors were treated at our Department of Urology. Thirty were male and 10 female, and were between 44 and 83 years old with a mean age of 65.5 years. Histopathologically, there were 38 transitional cell carcinomas and 2 squamous cell carcinomas. There was a positive correlation between grade and stage of tumor. Among the patients with transitional cell carcinoma, the five-year survival rate was 54.4% for all the patients, 57.1% for patients with renal pelvic tumors and 48.4% for those with ureteral tumors respectively, as measured by the Kaplan-Meier's method. Stage and intravascular invasion of the tumor were the most influential factors for prognosis. There was no evidence in this series to show the usefulness of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, such as bladder instillation or peroral administration of various anti-tumor drugs, as a prophylactic use for recurrence of the bladder tumor in low stage cases.