Stenzl - Figure 7
Bladder Cancer Tumor Development
FIG. 7: We know that bladder cancer develops along two different pathways, as shown in this Figure.[1] In one of these pathways the tumor develops as a hyperplastic growth with mutations such as FGFR3, eventually developing into papillary low-grade tumors that in most of institutions worldwide will be the predominant tumor seen.
On the other hand, there are patients who develop flat lesions, or dysplasia, that eventually become carcinoma in situ and even infiltrative, and that if undetected may very quickly lead to an invasive carcinoma that eventually metastases in a percentage of cases.
There may be crossover from one pathway to the other, and there may be some quite distinct developments of bladder tumors.
References
Knowles MA, Hurst CD. Molecular biology of bladder cancer: new insights into pathogenesis and clinical diversity. Nat Rev Cancer. 2015;15:25−41 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3817
