The value of nuclear area as a prognostic factor in T1 papillary transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

In a series of 131 T1 papillary transitional cell carcinomas of the bladder, the nuclear areas of 100 nuclei (50 from the external papillary zone and 50 from the internal papillary zone) were measured. An attempt was made to correlate retrospectively the value of the mean nuclear area with histological grade and with survival. A higher value was obtained for the mean nuclear area of the internal papillary zone than for that of the external papillary zone. A better survival rate was found after 10 years' follow-up for those tumours whose mean nuclear area in the internal papillary zone was < or = 28 microns2, which suggests that it is in this zone that the nuclear area should be measured. A correlation was observed between the increase in the mean nuclear area value and higher histological grade.