ABSTRACT
Reports of surgical procedures involving the bladder date back to 200 B.C., when Ammonius wrote about perineal lithotomy for bladder stone removal. Since that time, a wide range of additional indications for bladder surgery have developed. Malignancy is the most common reason for surgical intervention involving the bladder. The most common urinary tract malignancy derived from the urothelial lining of the urinary system is bladder cancer in which transitional cell carcinoma accounts for approximately 90% of these tumors. In the United States, bladder cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death for men, after lung, prostate, and colon cancer. The remaining bladder tumors are accounted for by squamous cell carcinoma (3-7%), adenocarcinoma (2-3%), and metastatic lesions (1-2%) (1).
