Prevalence of bladder tumors in women referred with postmenopausal bleeding.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of urinary bladder (UB) tumors in women presenting with postmenopausal bleeding (PMB).

STUDY

DESIGN

A prospective cohort study. New patients presenting for the PMB clinic in the period June 2002-June 2003 underwent transvaginal ultrasound scan (TVUS). All cases where bladder pathology was identified during TVUS were referred for urological opinion. Cystoscopy was undertaken in all cases and subsequent histological examination was carried out.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Benign and malignant urinary bladder tumors.

RESULTS

Two hundred eighty new referrals were reviewed in the PMB clinic. Three cases of UB tumors were identified on TVUS, none of them had an endometrial pathology and all cases had subsequent cystoscopy that confirmed the TVUS findings and resection of the bladder tumors was undertaken. Histological examination revealed one benign and two malignant urinary bladder tumors that were all completely excised.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of bladder tumors in women presenting with PMB in our population was found to be 1.07%, and the prevalence of bladder cancer was 0.7%.