AccScience Publishing / Bladder / Online First / DOI: 10.14440/bladder.2024.0021
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Predictive value of mitotic figure counts in tumor progression of non-invasive high-grade papillary urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder: A retrospective study from a single cancer center

Yan Hu1,2 Susan Karki3 Weiwei Chen1,4 Yunguang Liu3,5 Norbert Sule3 Bo Xu1,3*
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1 Department of Pathology, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14263, United States of America
2 Department of Pathology, Catholic Health Care System, Buffalo, New York 14220, United States of America
3 Department of Pathology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York 14263, United States of America
4 Department of Pathology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada
5 Northwest Arkansas Pathology Associates, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703, United States of America
Submitted: 25 July 2024 | Revised: 27 September 2024 | Accepted: 4 December 2024 | Published: 27 January 2025
© 2025 by the Bladder published by POL Scientific. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Background: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the most common type of bladder malignancy. Although the majority of UC present as non-invasive tumors, a subset of them progress into invasive cancer and cause significant morbidity and mortality. Objective: In this study, we examined the association between tumor mitotic activity associated and the progression of non-invasive high-grade papillary UC of the bladder. Methods: Forty-four cases of tumors that met the selection criteria were retrieved from the Department of Pathology archives, and, for each case, mitotic figures were counted in 10 high-power fields (HPF) by two independent pathologists. Tumor progression was defined as the invasion of the tumor into the subepithelial connective tissue (lamina propria) or beyond during follow-ups. In addition, tumors that later exhibited distant metastases were included in the tumor progression group. Results: Our study revealed that the average mitotic count per 10 HPF in the tumor progression group was significantly higher (p = 0.001) than in the progression-free group. Furthermore, tumors with more than three mitotic counts per HPF in initial biopsies posed a high risk of tumor progression within the 19.5 ± 6.1 months of follow-ups. Conclusion: The findings of our study provided valuable information for further stratification of risk factors among patients with non-invasive high-grade papillary UC of the bladder. Patients with high mitotic figure count in their initial biopsies should be monitored closely or treated earlier to prevent their tumors from progressing into invasive carcinoma.

Keywords
Tumor progression
Mitotic figure count
Predictive value
Bladder
Non-invasive urothelial carcinoma
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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