What does atypical urothelial cells in urine mean?

Atypical urothelial cells: This means that the pathologist found some abnormalities in your urine sample, but the cells weren’t abnormal enough to be considered cancer. Suspicious for high-grade urothelial carcinoma: This means that the pathologist found abnormal cells in your urine sample that might be cancer.

Does atypical urothelial cells mean cancer?

On occasion you may see a report from a Pap test or tissue biopsy stating “atypical cells present.” This might cause you to worry that this means cancer, but atypical cells aren’t necessarily cancerous. Many factors can make normal cells appear atypical, including inflammation and infection.

What is a degenerative cells in urine?

Atypical cells are suspicious cells, which are neither normal nor clearly malignant. Degenerated cells are more difficult to identify and can be caused, for example, by poor specimen storage conditions or by the aging of cells in the bladder before sample collection.

How common are atypical cells in urine?

Overall, the atypical category constituted 23.2% of all urine cytologic cases. Of those cases, 59.3% (410/691) and 40.7% (281/691) belonged to the atypical, reactive and the atypical, unclear categories, respectively.

What are urothelial cells?

Urothelial cells (UC) are classified as transitional epithelium, and they cover almost the entire luminal surface of the urinary tract. This includes the renal pelvis, ureters, bladder, and the proximal segment of the urethra. Urothelium provides a robust permeability barrier across the urinary tract.

What is benign squamous and urothelial cells in urine?

Urine cytology is mainly used to detect urothelial carcinoma (UC), especially for high-grade lesions including urothelial carcinoma in situ. Benign squamous cells are often seen in the urine specimens of women, they are either exfoliated from the trigone area of the bladder, the urethra, or the cervicovaginal region.

Are abnormal cells precancerous?

Precancerous cells are abnormal cells that may arise in the colon, the skin, and many other parts of the body. They are not cancer cells, but neither are they normal cells. Most of these cells will not progress into a cancer. They have changed in ways that suggest it is possible, though, for a cancer to develop.

How long before abnormal cells become cancerous?

These aren’t cancer cells, but cells that may turn cancerous if left untreated for many years. It takes 10-15 years for pre-cancer to progress to cancer. If you already have cancer cells, this would show up as malignancy.

What is the difference between precancerous and cancerous cells?

Basically, a precancerous lesion is a collection of cells from the body’s organs that may look and appear to be the same as cancer cells, but may not have the properties of cancer cells that allow them to break through the membranes of the organ they come from and spread (or “metastasize”) to other organs.

What causes atypical cells?

Many factors can make normal cells appear atypical, including inflammation and infection. Even normal aging can make cells appear abnormal. Atypical cells can change back to normal cells if the underlying cause is removed or resolved. This can happen spontaneously.