THE CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FOCAL AND WIDESPREAD SQUAMOUS AND GLANDULAR DIFFERENTIATION IN UROTHELIAL CANCERS OF THE BLADDER

Abstract

Introduction: The most common histologic type of bladder cancers is urothelial carcinoma, accounting for 90% and 95% of bladder cancers. Urinary bladder carcinomas may sometimes have diverse histologic features, which differ from the conventional urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. These divergent tumors are divided into four major categories as: variant forms of urothelial carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and undifferentiated carcinoma. In the first category, the most common divergent tumor group is the carcinomas with squamous and/or glandular differentiation. Squamous differentiation occurs in up to 10-20% of urothelial carcinomas of the bladder and glandular differentiation is less common than squamous differentiation. The clinical significance of squamous and glandular differentiation remains uncertain. In this study, we evaluated the effects of focal and widespread squamous and/or glandular differentiation on stage, grade and survival of bladder tumor patients at presentation.