Novel technique of sampling the urinary bladder for urothelial carcinoma specimens.

Sampling of the urinary bladder (UB) in radical cystectomy specimens is usually performed by obtaining sections through the lesions taken in rather random planes. The technique is hindered by the difficulty in identifying the anatomical relationship of the tumor with the remaining urinary bladder. Fifty radical cystectomy specimens were bisected in the horizontal plane at the middle portion of the UB then fixed without tissue stretching in 10% buffered formalin for at least 24 hours. The UBs were serially sectioned in parallel horizontal planes from the UB neck to the dome into rings of 3 to 10 mm thickness. The sections were orderly arranged and photographed. At least one ring of tissue was entirely submitted along with areas of interest or representative areas. Our proposed technique of transverse sections results in a mild increase in the number of sections submitted for microscopic examination. The advantages of our methods are (a) consistency and ease of sampling that help the microscopic-macroscopic correlation, (b) suitability for gross examination and for determining depth of invasion and largest tumor diameter, (c) improved identification of satellite lesions, and (d) suitability for neoplastic mapping and suitability for reexamination. The technique was validated by comparing with results of current technique.