CLINICO-PATHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF BLADDER CANCER PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE.

Abstract

Introduction: Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common urological malignancies.With Industrialisation, increasing exposure to occupational hazards and ever increasing use of tobacco in various forms, more and more of these BCs are being diagnosed nowadays. Objectives of the study: To study the clinical and histo-pathological prole of bladder cancer patients attending a tertiary care centre in Kerala in southern part of india. Materials and methods: A prospective observational study of 90 patients with bladder cancer was conducted in department of Urology at a tertiary care centre over a period of 1 year from Feb 2020 to Feb 2021. Patients presenting to department of urology, undergoing surgery for BC were studied by demographic parameters (age,gender) detailed history, clinical examination, cystoscopy ndings and cytopathology results and results analyzed. Results: A total of 90 patients were evaluated in the study. Highest number was found in patients of 60-80 years age group, with males > females. Most patients presented with haematuria (88.89%), some with pain (18.89%) and irritative voiding complaints (12.22%) and 5.56% were incidental detection. Of all patients, 70% had history of smoking. Transitional Cell Carcinoma (TCC) was most common histology found in 92.22% of study population followed by Adenocarcinoma (4.44%), Squamous cell carcinoma (2.22) and leiomyosarcoma(1.11%). Among TCC, 54.22% had low grade, 33.73% were high grade and rest of them were PUNLUMP. Most of the lesions were unifocal polypoidal growths. High grade cancers were found predominantly in patients with age>60 and history of tobacco smoking. Conclusion: Bladder cancer is predominantly a disease of older men. High index of clinical suspicion, as well as thorough exploration of all possible epidemiological factors will help clinician diagnose bladder malignancies. Awareness among the public should also be emphasized to make them understand the deleterious consequences of exposure to risk factors like smoking.