Influence of blood group type on prognosis of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder.

The correlation of blood group to grade, stage and tumor markers at diagnosis and to the subsequent clinical course was investigated in a consecutive retrospective series of 230 patients with primary transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The follow-up period was 5-9 years. There were no significant differences in grade, stage or DNA ploidy between patients of blood groups A and O. However, the deletion of ABH blood group isoantigen was found more frequently in tumors from patients of blood group O. Concerning progression of superficial bladder tumors, this was found earlier among patients of blood group O, and in a multivariate analysis this emerged as an independent prognostic factor. The crude and corrected mortality was not significantly higher among patients of group O than among those of other blood groups.