AccScience Publishing / Bladder / Online First / DOI: 10.14440/bladder.2024.0053
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Clinical significance of tumor location in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: A single-center longitudinal cohort analysis

Caipeng Qin1,2†* Yun Peng1,2† Fei Wang3† Yuxuan Song1,2† Yiqing Du1,2 Tao Xu1,2*
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1 Department of Urology, Peking University People’s Hospital, Beijing 100044, China
2 Peking University Applied Lithotripsy Institute, Beijing 100044, China
3 Department of Urology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035, China
Submitted: 3 November 2024 | Revised: 11 January 2025 | Accepted: 17 June 2025 | Published: 6 October 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). 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: Recurrence of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) still presents a significant clinical challenge, with the contributing factors yet to be fully understood. Objective: This study explored the clinical implications of tumor location in NMIBC recurrence. Methods: An observational cohort study was conducted, including 108 NMIBC patients who experienced a total of 344 NMIBC diagnoses (both primary and recurrent) between 1999 and 2019. Clinical information was collected for primary and recurrent tumors. Tumor locations were classified into 10 categories: bladder neck (neck), dome, posterior, anterior, trigone, right, right rear, left, multiple site(s), and others. The association between tumor location and recurrence was systematically analyzed. Results: The median follow-up period lasted for 28 months (range: 2–88 months), the median recurrence interval was 13.5 months, and 44 patients (40.7%) progressed into muscle-invasive disease. Univariate analysis revealed that tumor location within the bladder significantly impacted recurrence-free interval, progression-free survival, and overall survival. Tumors situated in the bladder neck, dome, right posterior wall, and trigone demonstrated significantly shorter recurrence-free intervals, rendering these areas high-risk regions. The original tumor site was the most common relapse location, and the recurrence interval shortened as the number of recurrences increased. Over time, the recurrence pattern shifted, with tumors most frequently recurring in the left wall, multiple sites, right wall, and posterior wall. Conclusion: The findings suggest that bladder cancer most commonly recurs at the original site, with high-risk locations linked to shorter recurrent intervals and greater risks for disease progression. In addition, the recurrence interval tends to decrease with successive recurrences.

Keywords
Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer
Outcome
Recurrence
Tumor location
Funding
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no.: 82371840), the Research and Development Fund of Peking University People’s Hospital’s Clinical Medicine + X incubation program (grant no.: RDX2023-02), and the Peking University People’s Hospital’s clinical cultivation fund (grant no.: RDL2024-07).
Conflict of interest
All authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Bladder, Electronic ISSN: 2327-2120 Print ISSN: TBA, Published by POL Scientific