Extravesical

Extravesical is a medical term meaning situated outside the urinary bladder. It is used as an attributive modifier in anatomy, oncology, radiology, and surgery to describe location, extension of disease, or surgical approach relative to the bladder. Etymology stems from Latin exter, outside, and vesica, bladder.

In anatomy and radiology, extravesical describes tissues or spaces surrounding the bladder, such as perivesical tissues. An extravesical lesion lies beyond the bladder wall.

In oncology, extravesical extension refers to tumor spread beyond the bladder into perivesical fat or adjacent pelvic structures, corresponding to a higher stage in the TNM system and typically associated with a poorer prognosis.

In surgery, extravesical approaches or procedures describe techniques performed without entering the bladder lumen, or involving dissection around the bladder rather than through its interior. Examples include extravesical ureteral reimplantation for vesicoureteral reflux and certain cystectomy-related approaches in which dissection proceeds outside the bladder wall.

The term is often contrasted with intravesical, meaning inside the bladder, and perivesical, referring to tissues immediately surrounding the bladder. Extravesical terminology thus conveys localization or manipulation beyond the bladder itself.