Hanging trends of bladder cancer in Sri Lanka

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The aims of the study were to determine clinic pathological characteristics of bladder carcinoma treated in a urology unit of Sri Lanka and to identify important differences by comparing with previous studies done in Sri Lanka during the last two decades. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospectively collected data of all newly diagnosed patients with bladder cancer in a tertiary referral centre from 2011 to 2013 were analysed with regard to clinical presentation, age, gender and histopathological diagnosis. Data on clinical and histopathological features of bladder cancers diagnosed from 1993 to 2013 were obtained from previous publications. RESULTS: Among 115 patients, mean age was 65 years and male to female ratio was 4.8:1. Urothelial carcinoma (UC) was found in 89.5% of patients in this study similar to other urology unit based studies. Muscle invasion was noted in 35% of patients compared to 48.4% two decades ago (p < 0.05). In patients with UC, 18% were found to have pT1 high grade tumour. It was 5.3% in the earlier studies (p < 0.05). Pure squamous cell carcinoma was found in 8.7%. According to studies done at National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), squamous cellcarcinoma accounts for 3% (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of squamous carcinoma is higher among Sri Lankan patients with bladder cancer treated outside NHSL and further studies are necessary to ascertain the reason for this. The percentage of muscle invasive disease has decreased while the percentage of pT1 high grade tumors has increased during the last two decades.