This course will cover the diversity of bladder pathology encountered in routine diagnostic practice based on pre-distributed cases. It is intended for general surgical pathologists, urologic pathologists, and pathologists-in-training. We will focus on common diagnostic problems with emphasis on histologic criteria for diagnosis (including ancillary studies when indicated), adequate surgical reporting, and the managerial impact of the different diagnoses.

The first half of the course will deal with the most common problem in bladder pathology: the histologic classification of both papillary urothelial neoplasms and flat urothelial lesions with atypia [WHO (2004)/ISUP system criteria]. A discussion of patterns of invasion by urothelial carcinoma and problems associated with pathologic staging will also be included. The second half of the course will cover histologic variants of urothelial carcinoma, including their diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic relevance, mimics of urothelial neoplasia, and spindle cell proliferations.

A limited number of glass slides will be available for advance mailing. All registrants will be mailed a CD with representative images after the meeting . A detailed syllabus that reviews the diagnostic criteria presented and a comprehensive reference list will be distributed at the course .

After completion of the course, participants should be able to: 1) classify the spectrum of papillary and flat urothelial neoplasia using the WHO (2004)/ISUP criteria, 2) recognize potential mimics of urothelial neoplasia, 3) be familiar with the prognostic and treatment implications of each diagnosis including morphologic variants of carcinoma.