Classic Manuscripts in Urology: Jewett, 1946

Hugh Judge Jewett III

Hugh J. Jewett III (1903-1990) finished the Brady Residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital under Hugh Hampton Young in 1936, became a Professor in the School of Medicine, reaching emeritus in 1969.  His work on the prognostication and evaluation of urological malignancies earned him the Barringer Medal by the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and the Ramon Guiteras Award by the American Urological Association.  The theme of that body of work is epitomized in this 1946 manuscript.

Hugh J. Jewett and George H. Strong. Infiltrating Carcinoma of the Bladder: Relation of Depth of Penetration of the Bladder Wall to Incidence of Local Extension and Metastases.  The Journal of Urology, 1946: 55, 366-372.

Pubmed.

In this paper, Dr. Jewett reviewed the autopsies of 127 patients with infiltrating bladder cancer from 1919-1944.  The depth of penetration of tumor into the bladder wall was documented in 107 cases and related to the incidence of 1) metastases, 2) lymphatic capillary invasion and 3) perivesical fixation.  From this data, Dr. Jewett was able to stratify patients into three groups: those with submucosal invasion, those with invasion into the detrusor muscle and those with invasion through the detrusor.  These groups served as the basis for and correspond to today's modern staging categories of non-muscle invasive (pTa, pT1), muscle invasive (pT2) and locally invasive (pT3, pT4) urothelial cancer.

Importantly, Dr. Jewett demonstrated that the number of lymph node and distant metastases, as well as the likelihood of pelvic fixation increased as the tumor grew into and through the bladder wall.  He therefore deduced that 100% of patients with submucosal invasion were potentially curable and only 26% of those with perivesical fixation were potentially curable.

In addition, this manuscript defined the lymphatic drainage of the bladder in relation to the peritoneum and abdominal wall and detailed
the principle sites of invasion of urothelial metastases (regional lymph nodes, liver, lungs and vertebral column).

This manuscript was a landmark paper, in that it described the basis for our modern-day staging of bladder cancer and developed a prognostic model that could be easily shared among physicians and patients.  It has been cited over 400 times since its original publication.

Classic Manuscripts in Urology will be posted on this blog on regular basis.  These articles are meant to highlight the achievements of our predecessors, recognize the work from which we build our careers and stimulate new conversations and discussion on a variety of urological topics.  Please feel free to comment on this manuscript, help point out its strengths and weaknesses, or suggest a new manuscript and topic.