Carcinomas of the renal pelvis and ureter are relatively uncommon and account for 5%-7% of all urothelial tumors all over the world. In China, the proportion of them to all urothelial tumors may be 26%, which is higher than that in the western world. The majority of the lesions occur in renal pelvis, and ureteral tumors are only one fourth the incidence of renal pelvic tumors. In China, ureteral tumors are reported to be 50% of renal pelvic tumors [1, 2] . In recent years, with the development of medical examination techniques, more cases are detected and diagnosed early. There is a tendency of increased incidence of ureteral tumors in recent 20 years, whereas renal pelvic tumors remain stable according to a new statistics of a large sample in the United States [3] . Due to the rarity of these tumors, studies on them are relatively less and most of their clinicopathological characteristics are not well known. In addition, the recurrences of the tumors in the remaining urinary tract after nephroureterectomy are relatively common, especially in the bladder. Summarizing the clinicopathological characteristics of these diseases will be helpful to timely diagnosis, effective treatment and appropriate follow-up management. In this article, the authors analyzed a series of 63 patients with renal pelvic and ureteral carcinomas, and reviewed the literatures.
Materials and methods
Clinical dataThe study cohort consisted of 63 patients treated for carcinomas of the renal pelvis and ureter at our hospital between May 2001 to Jun 2008. Clinical and pathological data were obtained by a review of the medical records and telephone inquiries. Of the 63 cases, 54 cases were confirmed by post-operative pathology. Among them, radical nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff excision was perAbstract Objective: The aim of this study was to summarize the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with renal pelvis and ureteral carcinomas, and analyze the recurrence in the remaining urinary tract and metastasis outside the urinary tract after surgical treatment. Methods: The patients' characteristics, tumor stage and grade, recurrence and metastasis distribution were summarized by tables, respectively. Spearman rank test, Log-rank test, Kaplan-Meier survival curve, and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to make statistical analysis. Results: A total of 63 patients with 30 men, 33 women, 30 renal pelvic tumors and 33 ureteral tumors was found. Seven had multifocal lesions. Fifty-four underwent surgical operation, which contained 49 cases of pathologically confirmed transitional cell carcinoma, 4 transitional cell carcinoma with squamous differentiation, and 1 squamous cell carcinoma. Tumor stage and grade had positive correlation. Among the 34 followed-up cases, 21 had no metastasis, 10 had metastasis, in which stage T3-4 groups accounted for 90%, and 5 developed tumor recurrences. The metastasis-free survivals had no significant difference between renal pelvic carcinoma and ureteral carcinoma, but had significant dif...
