Prognostic Significance of Bromodeoxyuridine High Labeled Bladder Cancer Measured by Flow Cytometry: Does Flow Cytometric Determination Predict the Prognosis of Patients with Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder

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We studied whether flow cytometric determination of proliferative cell activity estimated by the bromodeoxyuridine in vitro labeling technique provides significant prognosticators beyond the classical histological evaluation in the patient with bladder cancer. We evaluated 81 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder using fresh bladder specimens. Clinical followup of at least more than 24 months was requested, with the mean followup being 37.9 ± 10.5 months. Tumor grade and stage were the histological prognostic parameters. Flow cytometric bivariate measurements of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ploidy and bromodeoxyuridine labeled cell index were evaluated. Tumors with a bromodeoxyuridine labeled cell index of more than 10.7%, which was the value of the mean plus 2 times the standard deviation obtained in grade 1 bladder tumors, were designated as high bromodeoxyuridine labeled cell index tumors. A total of 51 patients with low bromodeoxyuridine labeled cell index tumors demonstrated a 98.0% 3-year actuarial survival rate estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, compared to 42.9% for those with high index tumors. Multivariate survival analysis was performed with Cox’s proportional regression model to study statistical individual prognostic values of histological and flow cytometric parameters. Histological tumor grade was the single most important prognostic factor (risk ratio 13.2, p <0.05), with tumor stage being the second most important (risk ratio 9.2, p <0.05), followed by bromodeoxyuridine labeled cell index status (risk ratio 6.9, p <0.05). DNA ploidy status did not influence the clinical outcome. When grade 3 tumors were classified as low and/or high bromodeoxyuridine labeled cell index tumors, 3-year actuarial survival rates were 85.7% and 27.3%, respectively. These results indicate that DNA/bromodeoxyuridine bivariate analysis can be used as an effective adjunct to histological examination for prognostication and decision-making in treatment of bladder cancer patients.