Urological Malignancy Quiz

See Transitional Cell Carcinomas. Option B is correct: bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), also called urothelial carcinoma, is a cancer of the urothelium, the specialised lining on the inside of the bladder. Urothelium is also called transitional epithelium, because its cells change appearance as the bladder fills: when the bladder is empty the lining resembles columnar (column-shaped) cells, and when it is stretched it 'transitions' to a flattened, squamous appearance, which suits an organ that must cope with large changes in volume. The same type of lining covers the inside of the ureters (the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder), so urothelial cancers can arise in the ureters too, but TCC is more common in the bladder. TCC accounts for more than 90% of bladder cancers. It often presents with painless visible haematuria, and it is graded and staged by how far it has grown through the layers of the bladder wall:

• The urothelium is the origin of the cancer
• Muscle invasion describes how far the cancer has grown, not where it started
• Non-muscle-invasive tumours are confined to the lining or the layer just beneath it; muscle-invasive tumours reach the detrusor muscle

• Cancer: bladder transitional cell carcinoma, also called urothelial carcinoma.
• Origin: the urothelium, the lining on the inside of the bladder.
• Name: transitional epithelium, because its cells change shape as the bladder fills.
• Frequency: more than 90% of bladder cancers.