Clinical characteristics of bladder urothelial tumors in male patients--the influences of benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement

Objectives: To investigate the clinical characteristics of bladder urothelial tumors in male patients.

Patients and methods: The clinical characteristics of 356 patients with newly diagnosed bladder urothelial tumors from July 2005 to January 2010 were analyzed. Characteristics of different age groups were compared. Furthermore, tumor characteristics were analyzed to define the relationship, if any, with benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement.

Results: For bladder urothelial tumors, the percentage of carcinoma increased significantly with increasing age (P < 0.001), and differences were found among 3 age groups in the distribution of high grade carcinoma (P = 0.012). Especially in non-muscle-invasive carcinoma, the percentage of high grade carcinoma increased significantly with increasing age (P = 0.006), with significant differences between the ≤50 years group and the 51-69 years group and ≥70 years group (P = 0.031, P = 0.002). Interestingly, compared with non-benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement patients, benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement patients were more frequently diagnosed with poorly differentiated tumors, and logistic regression confirmed associations between benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement and unfavorable carcinoma, controlling for age (P = 0.009).

Conclusions: Age is an unfavorable influence on the clinical characteristics of bladder urothelial tumors in men, and it was observed that the percentage of unfavorable tumors increased with age. Interestingly, noticeable changes of tumor differentiation appeared at the age of 50 years, and it was indicated that the natural history of carcinoma appeared to differ according to benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement statuses. There was a tendency for the men, who were diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia/benign prostatic enlargement, to present with unfavorable carcinoma.