Diagnóstico incidental del carcinoma vesical

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prognostic factors of incidentally diagnosed bladder carcinomas with special reference to the complementary diagnostic tests. METHODS: 308 cases of carcinoma of the bladder were reviewed. These were divided into two groups: those that had been diagnosed on the basis of the clinical features and those that had been incidentally detected. The prognostic factors of size, grade, histological type, and pathological stage were analyzed. RESULTS: Local tumor stage was the only statistically significant prognostic factor. 14.7% of the superficial and 3.6% of the infiltrating carcinomas had been incidentally diagnosed. Ultrasound was the most frequently utilized diagnostic method (87.2%). CONCLUSIONS: In our series, the incidentally diagnosed carcinoma of the bladder has a higher probability of being a superficial lesion than those that are symptomatic and therefore the prognosis is better. Since ultrasound was the most frequently utilized diagnostic method, it might be advisable to assess the bladder in patients undergoing abdominal ultrasound evaluation.