Management of the Urethra in Patients Undergoing Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Carcinoma

Abstract

Computerized data on 174 males who underwent radical cystectomy for bladder carcinoma were studied in relationship to the incidence of urethral involvement. Simultaneous or delayed urethrectomies were done on 32 patients, 7 of whom had overt urethral carcinoma (4% of the total number of males) and 10 of whom had carcinoma in situ (5.7% of the total number of males). Routine urethrectomy may not need to be done on patients undergoing radical cystectomy unless overt urethral carcinoma or positive margins are found at cystectomy. The use of urethral cytologies is crucial to the routine follow-up of patients with radical cystectomy for bladder cancer and should be combined with clinical follow-up to establish the indication for urethrectomy.