Studies on urinary bladder carcinoma by morphometry, flow cytometry, and light microscopic malignancy grading with special reference to grade II tumours.

Biopsies from 28 patients with urinary bladder carcinoma were investigated by flow cytometry and morphometry. Histopathological grading on 1.5 microns thick glycol methacrylate sections was also performed. Nuclear profile areas, nuclear volume densities and mitotic indices were usually larger in the higher grades of malignancy. All grade I tumours were diploid and all grade III tumours were aneuploid. Out of 13 grade II tumours 8 were diploid and 5 aneuploid. In these latter five cases nuclear profile areas were at the high end of the spectrum. The data show that flow cytometry and morphometry could be a valuable tool in the diagnosis of urinary bladder carcinoma. Our data also suggest that a subdivision of the grade II tumours might be possible and meaningful in the assessment of prognosis.