Figure 1.

Proposed model of carcinogenesis in UC. This model integrates the etiological, molecular and dysplastic field effects with known cellular and molecular events that contribute to the different stages of carcinogenesis in UC. The arrow indicates the temporal direction of dysplastic progression and the color gradient reflects the increasing risk of cancer at the different stages of the process. Cancer arises within dysplastic and/or molecular fields. Molecular fields precede dysplastic fields and are more extensive, thus offering an excellent opportunity for precancer detection.