The first two authors contributed equally to this work Classification of upper tract urothelial preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions mirrors that of the urinary bladder, with aU lesions of the bladder urothelium being possible in the upper tract and vice versa. There are three major groups of non-invasive urothelial neoplasms: flat, papillary, and inverted. These three groups share a similar morphological spectrum of intraurothelial changes, ranging from hyperplasia to dysplasia to carcinoma in situ. However, they differ in terms of architectural growth pattern compared to the surrounding non-neoplastic mucosal surface. Infiltrating urothelial carcinoma is defined as a urothelial tumor that invades beyond the basement membrane. Unlike in non-invasive papillary urothelial neoplasms (pTa), the role of histologic grade in pTl and higher stage tumors has been suggested to be of only relative importance. The vast majority of tumors of the upper urinary tract are urothelial carcinoma. More commonly seen, however, are foci ofsquamous differentiation and, less frequently, glandular differentiation. Pure urothelial carcinomas also display a wide range of variant morphologies, and recognition of these morphologies is important for diagnosis, classification, and prognosis.The pathology ofupper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is considered to be the same as that of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) (1-3). While this assumption seems reasonable given that the histologic features of UTUC and UCB are microscopically identical, a growing body of evidence has begun to suggest that differences between these two cancers do exist (4). Nevertheless, studies specific to the pathology of UTUC remain rare and much of what is known about UTUC is derived from studies on UCB.
CLASSIFICATION AND GRADINGUreteroscopic evaluation with biopsy is currently the gold standard for diagnosing tumors of the upper