Background: The natural history of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) in young patients remains a matter of debate.
Purpose: To compare the clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of bladder TCC according to age in young adults.
Materials and Methods: From 1993 to 2006, 158 patients < 50 years with newly diagnosed bladder TCC were enrolled in this study. Patients were subdivided into 3 age groups: < 30 years (group I, n = 10), < 40 but > 30 years (group II, n = 37), and > 40 years (group III, n = 111). Data were analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method to assess disease recurrence, progression, and survival.
Results: The study consisted of 140 males and 18 females. Eighty (50.6%) patients presented with pTa, 55 (34.8%) with pT1, and 23 (14.5%) with pT2-T3. The follow-up duration ranged from 36 to 158 months. The recurring tumors were stage Ta in 13 patients and stage T1 in 15. Five patients progressed to invasive cancer. The overall cancer-specific survival rate was 93%. The tumor size (p = 0.10), multiplicity (p = 0.71), tumor location (p = 0.60), T stage (p = 0.34), and tumor grade (p = 0.21) were similar in the 3 groups. The 5-year recurrence-free rates were 66.7, 77.4, and 81% (p = 0.76), respectively. The 5-year progression-free rates were 100, 96.8, and 95.8% (p = 0.74), respectively. The 5-year cancer-specific survival rates were similar in the 3 groups (p = 0.56).
Conclusion: Initial bladder TCC stage and natural history in young adults under 40 years old are similar to that in older patients.
Sallami Satâa, Adel Dahmani, Karim Cherif, Ines Chelly, Nidhameddine Kchir, Ali Horchani
Date Received: September 16, 2011
Accepted on: October 21, 2011
CORRESPONDENCE: Sallami Satáa, MD, Department of Urology, La Rabta Hospital-University, Tunis, Tunisia ( ).
CITATION: UroToday Int J. 2012 April;5(2):art 07.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3834/uij.1944-5784.2012.04.07