[Usefulness of cold ureteral biopsy during radical cystectomy as a predictor of recurrence risk: Review of our series.].

Objectives: To evaluate the association of positive margins in the intraoperative biopsy during radical cystectomy (RC) with the risk of recurrence in the uretero-ileal anastomosis or upper urinary tract (UUT), and identify potential risk factors for positive ureteral margins.

Methods: A retrospective, descriptive study was performed in patients treated with radical cystectomy due to transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), who underwent a cold biopsy of the ureteral margin at the time of cystectomy. A descriptive analysis and frequency distribution was performed. Fisher's test was used to calculate sensitivity and specificity and a survival analysis was performed.

Results: 230 patients were included. Prior to RC, transurethral resection of the bladder tumor and a CT scan were done. The percentage of positive margins was 4.81% for the right ureter and 4.27% for the left. Recurrence was detected in the anastomosis in 2.64% of the cases. In a 0.88% recurrence was found in the UUT (2 cases) at the level of left renal pelvis (1 case) and left kidney (1 case). In the multivariate analysis, neither recurrence in the anastomosis (p=1) or at the UUT (p=1) level during follow-up were significantly associated with the presence of positive margins. An association was found between the pathological biopsy of the right ureter and carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the bladder wall with UUT involvement. We found only association between the cold biopsy of the left ureter and tumor in left UTT. Reimplantation with positive margins was not statistically associated with neither ureteroileal anastomosis or UTT relapse. A relationship was found between the cold biopsy of both ureters and the definitive pathology.

Conclusions: In our study, the presence of positive ureteral margins was not associated with an increased risk of recurrence in the anastomosis or UUT. Although it remains a topic for debate, a strategy to follow may be to adapt ureteral cold biopsies to individual risk, thus perform it in patients with bladder CIS.