Objective: To determine the diagnostic value of multislice CT urography (MSCTU) in patients with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of upper urinary tract by comparing other imageology methods used.
Methods: Two hundred and thirty four cases of transitional cell carcinoma of upper urinary tract, in which 82 cases were diagnosed pathologically with pelvic carcinoma and 152 cases with ureteral carcinoma, between June 2004 and September 2006 in our institute were enrolled in a retrospective study. Most of them underwent urological ultrasound, intravenous urogram (IVU), retrograde pyelography and MSCTU. We compared the positive rate (PR) and diagnostic rate (DR) of these methods used by chi-square test.
Results: Among the 234 cases, 215 patients underwent urologic ultrasound, in which 152 cases were detected to be abnormal, with the PR of 70.7%; Meanwhile, 58 cased were diagnosed by this examination, with the DR of 27.0%. IVU was performed in 193 patients and 132 cases were found to be abnormal, and the PR was 68.4%, 65 cases were diagnosed by IVU and the DR was 33.7%. And 132 patients underwent retrograde pyelography, by which 115 cases of lesion were detected, with the PR of 87.1%; In the meantime, 93 cases were diagnosed, with the DR of 70.5%. MSCTU was performed in 226 cases and 220 cases were found to be abnormal, and the PR was 97.3%; 214 cases were diagnosed by MSCTU, with the DR of 94.7%. The DR of detecting TCC of retrograde pyelography had statistically significant difference with that of ultrasound and IVU (P<0.001). As compared with retrograde pyelography, MSCTU had statistically significant superiority (P<0.001).
Conclusion: To shorten the diagnosis time and mitigate the sufferings, patients with hematuria supposed to be TCC of upper urinary tract should be recommended to undergo MSCTU first.