Elective segmental ureterectomy for transitional cell carcinoma of the ureter: long-term follow-up in a series of 73 patients

OBJECTIVES To report the long-term oncological outcome in patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the ureter electively treated with kidney-sparing surgery. To compare our data with the few series reported in the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS We considered 73 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the distal ureter treated in five Italian Departments of Urology. The following surgeries were carried out: 38 reimplantations on psoas hitch bladder (52%), 21 end-to-end anastomoses (28.8%), 11 direct ureterocystoneostomies (15.1%) and three reimplantations on Boari flap bladder (4.1%). The median follow-up was 87 months. RESULTS Tumours were pTa in 42.5% of patients, pT1 in 31.5%, pT2 in 17.8% and pT3 in 8.2%. Recurrence of bladder urothelial carcinoma was found in 10 patients (13.7%) after a median time of 28 months. The bladder recurrence-free survival at 5 years was 82.2%. The overall survival at 5 years was 85.3% and the cancer-specific survival rate at 5 years was 94.1%. CONCLUSION Our data show that segmental ureterectomy procedures do not result in worse cancer control compared with data in the literature regarding nephroureterectomy.