INTRODUCTION: Surveillance of transitional cell @entity150 forms a major part of the workload of many urology units. Unfortunately, the policy for long-term surveillance of these @entity5 is neither clear nor agreed upon in the absence of evidence base. Our study was performed to provide current national practice data, and begin the debate on consensus guidelines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to Consultant Urologists (CUs) in the UK and Ireland (n=501) asking about their policy on the long-term surveillance of different @entity150 once @entity1 are free of recurrence. RESULTS: A 73% response rate was observed (365/501). Views varied considerably. They ranged from life long cystoscopic surveillance for low-stage low-grade @entity5 (pTaG1) to discharge after 5 years (or less) of a recurrence-free period for pT1G3 @entity5 . Once long-term surveillance with cystoscopy had been discontinued, 55% of CUs felt no role was indicated for urine cytology in further follow up, whereas 17% would use it for all @entity5 types and 28% are selective. CONCLUSION: Our study has shown the complete lack of consensus regarding the long-term surveillance of @entity150 in the UK and Ireland. This has major implications for policy making, resources allocation and @entity5 survival. We highlight the need for national guidelines in this area for optimal surveillance of @entity150 , as a good prospective evidence-based data will not be available for many years. We believe our study might form the basis for discussion on such guidelines.

Long-term surveillance of XXXX : current practice in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

@entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['cancers', 'cancer', 'tumours', 'tumour'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity150 :: ('MESH:D001749', 'Disease') :: ['bladder cancer', 'carcinoma of the bladder', 'bladder tumours']
@entity150 :: (MESH:D001749,Disease) :: ['bladder tumours']
