Significance of Ureteroscopic Biopsy Grade in Patients with Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the significance of the ureteroscopic biopsy grade for patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Patients and Methods: This study included 40 patients who were diagnosed with a single focus of UTUC by ureteroscopic biopsy and subsequently underwent nephroureterectomy. The significance of the biopsy grade as a predictive factor for pathological outcomes of nephroureterectomy was retrospectively analyzed. Results: Of these 40 patients, 19 (47.5%) and 21 (52.5%) were diagnosed with low and high grade UTUC, respectively. The ureteroscopic biopsy grade matched the pathological grade of surgically resected specimens in 35 of the 40 cases (87.5%), and there was a significant correlation between the biopsy and pathological grades (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the biopsy grade was also shown to be closely associated with the pathological stage (p < 0.001); that is, only 1 of the 19 patients (5.3%) with biopsy low grade UTUC were pathologically diagnosed as having muscle invasive disease, while 17 of the 21 patients (81.0%) with biopsy high grade UTUC appeared to show tumor invasion into muscle or deeper. Conclusions: The grade of UTUC on ureteroscopic biopsy could provide accurate diagnostic information on the final pathology of nephroureterectomy specimens.