Value of excretory cystography in the diagnosis of bladder tumours.

The value of excretory cystography in diagnosing bladder tumours was assessed in a randomised study. The 10-min, 20-min, and post-voiding films of intravenous urograms of 75 patients with biopsy-proved bladder tumours and of 25 patients with proved normal bladders were randomly reviewed. Overall, 60 of 75 bladder tumours (80%) were correctly diagnosed by review of the roentgenograms. Specificity and sensitivity were comparable (94 and 96% respectively) for patients with papillary tumours greater than or equal to 0.5 cm in diameter, but specificity was low (23%) for those with tumours smaller than 0.5 cm. It is concluded that excretory cystography makes a considerable contribution to the establishment of the diagnosis of papillary bladder tumours greater than or equal to 0.5 cm in diameter.