Quality of diagnostic staging in patients with bladder cancer: A process‐outcomes link

Abstract

The omission of muscle in the specimen or its mention in the pathology report in nearly half of all diagnostic resections was associated with increased mortality, particularly in patients with high-grade disease. Because urologists cannot reliably discern between high- and low-grade or Ta and T1 disease, it is contended that patients with bladder cancer should undergo adequate muscle sampling at the time of endoscopic resection.