Limitations of ureteroscopy in diagnosis of invasive upper tract urothelial cancer.

The efficacy of ureteroscopic evaluation of upper tract abnormalities was evaluated in 40 patients. Twenty-eight patients presented with a radiologic filling defect, 9 with a filling defect and hematuria and 3 individuals exhibited hematuria alone. Cold cup biopsies revealed transitional cell carcinoma in 7 of 9 patients with papillary tumors and in 2 of 3 with nonpapillary tumors. Four patients without ureteroscopic diagnosis of urothelial cancer were found to have invasive tumors on subsequent nephroureterectomy. Of 15 patients with upper tract urothelial cancer, 12 were treated with total nephroureterectomy. Three individuals with grade 1 neoplasms received conservative ureteroscopic ablative therapy. Ureteroscopy is effective when combined with biopsy in the diagnosis and treatment of papillary lesions, but exhibits a low sensitivity in patients with invasive lesions.