Urinary bladder cancer in yemen.

OBJECTIVES The aims of this study are to highlight the clinicopathological features of urinary bladder cancer in Yemen, and to describe the histological grading of urothelial neoplasms according to the World Health Organization and International Society of Urologic pathology (WHO/ISUP 1998) classification. METHODS This is a descriptive record-based study of 316 cases of bladder cancer diagnosed by two pathologists at the Department of pathology, Sana'a University from 1(st) January 2005 to 30(th) April 2009. The diagnoses were made on hematoxylin and eosin stained sections and categorized according to WHO/ISUP 1998 classification. RESULTS Out of 316 urinary bladder cancers, 248 (78%) were urothelial neoplasms, 53 (17%) were squamous cell carcinoma, 7 (2%) were adenocarcinoma, and 3 (1%) were rhabdomyosarcoma. The remaining cases were metastatic carcinomas (n=3), small cell carcinoma (n=1), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n=1). The urothelial neoplasms observed were carcinoma in situ 4 (2%), papilloma 7 (3%), papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential 26 (11%), papillary urothelial carcinoma of low grade 107 (43%), papillary urothelial carcinoma of high grade 18 (7%), and non-papillary urothelial carcinoma of high grade 85 (34%), with 60 years mean age for males and 58 years for females; along with a male to female ratio of 4:1. The peak incidence was observed in the 61-70 years age group. CONCLUSION This study documents a high frequency of urothelial neoplasms, mostly papillary urothelial carcinoma of low grade and non-papillary urothelial carcinoma of high grade with male preponderance and peak incidence in 6(th) decade of age.