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Cancers of the ureter can be diagnosed in a number of ways. If the growth in the ureter or upper urinary tract is big enough, it may be detectable on a CAT scan. But more commonly, the doctor has to use a tiny camera that’s threaded through the urethra, into the bladder, and then backwards up the ureter tube to directly visualize and look for any abnormalities, growths, tumors, lesions in the upper urinary tract. A small biopsy might be taken. And if the growth in the ureter is small enough, sometimes a grabbing instrument or a laser can be used to remove the growth without any major surgery. More commonly, however, cancers of the urinary tract need to be removed by removing a segment of the ureter or the entire kidney and ureter in a procedure called nefroureterectomy.
