Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of resection (TURBT) replacement in patients with strong suspicion of invasive bladder tumor by transurethral tru-cut biopsy carried out during cystoscopy.
Methods: Fifty-eight patients (52 men and six women; mean age 65 years, range 43-79) presenting with extensive bladder tumor suggested by ultrasound and computed tomography were included in the study. Each patient was submitted to transurethral, cystoscopically-guided tru-cut biopsy of bladder tumor before the planned TURBT. Comparison of histopathological assessment of tissue cores, resection and radical cystectomy specimens was carried out.
Results: Histopathological analysis of resection specimens and tissue cores were in complete accordance with previous tissue cores assessment in terms of type and grade of bladder cancer. Histological type of bladder tumor revealed by tru-cut biopsy and radical cystectomy was identical in 56 (96.6%) cases. Tumor grade was the same in biopsy cores and radical cystectomy specimens in 55 (95%) cases.
Conclusions: Endoscopic tru-cut bladder tumor biopsy allows us to collect sufficient amounts of tissue material for histopathological confirmation of detrusor muscle infiltration in patients presenting with bladder tumors suspected to cause muscle invasiveness. The procedure is carried out under cystoscopic control and is fast, efficient, safe, easy to perform and less invasive than standard TURB in cases of an extensive bladder tumor.