Risk factors for the development of bladder cancer after upper tract urothelial cancer

Objectives. To determine the clinical and pathologic risk factors for initial intravesical recurrence in patients with primary renal pelvic and/or ureteral cancer and to examine the progression in the bladder in patients having high risk factors for intravesical recurrence. Methods. This study included 69 patients with renal pelvic and/or ureteral cancer. We excluded patients with distant metastases, those with a short period of follow-up, and those having a previous history or concomitance of bladder cancer. The exclusion criteria were chosen to avoid contamination by patients with a poor prognosis who might die of the primary cancer before bladder cancer development. Multivariate analysis by Cox's proportional hazards model was used to determine what clinical and pathologic variables significantly affected the initial intravesical recurrence of cancer. We also studied the stage progression of cancer that recurred in the bladder. Results. Initial intravesical recurrence of the cancer was found in 22 patients during a median follow-up period of 53 months (range 12 to 225). The intravesical disease-free rate after upper tract urothelial cancer was 65% (rate of disease recurrence in bladder 35%) at 5 years by the Kaplan-Meier method. The extent (multifocality) of the upper urinary cancer (P = 0.0038) and pathologic stage (P = 0.0409) independently influenced intravesical recurrence. Age, sex, adjuvant chemotherapy, configuration of the primary tumor, primary cancer size, and pathologic grade did not affect recurrence. The rate of stage progression also was not influenced by the extent of the disease in the upper urinary tract. Conclusions. The extent and pathologic stage of cancer in the upper urinary tract were significant and independent factors for initial intravesical recurrence of cancer. However, no difference was found in clinical outcome in terms of stage progression between patients having highrisk factors for intravesical recurrence and those without them. UROLOGY 55: 663-667, 2000. (C) 2000, Elsevier Science Inc.