Prognostic Value of Tumor Budding in Urothelial Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Recently, tumor budding (TB) has been suggested as a strong prognostic marker in urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UC). The aim of this systematic review is to test the prognostic value of TB in UC by a meta-analysis of previously published studies. We systematically reviewed the literature related to TB by using the databases of Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science. The search was limited to publications in the English language up to July 2022. There were 790 patients from 7 retrospective studies in which TB has been evaluated in UC. Two authors independently extracted the results from eligible studies. The meta-analysis of eligible studies revealed that TB is a significant prognosticator for progression-free survival in UC, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 3.51 (95% CI, 1.86-6.62; P < .001) in univariate analysis and a HR of 2.78 (95% CI, 1.57-4.93; P < .001) in multivariate analysis; a significant prognosticator for overall survival and cancer-specific survival in UC, with a HR of 3.07 (95% CI, 2.04-4.64; P < .001) and a HR of 2.18 (95% CI, 1.11-4.29; P = .02) respectively in univariate analysis. Our findings confirm that UC with a high TB count is at a high risk of progress. TB could be considered as an element in pathology reports and future oncologic staging systems.