Nine cases of transitional cell carcinoma (eight from the urinary bladder and one from the ureter; six noninvasive and three invasive) were subjected to detailed cytogenetic analysis with a G-banding method. The synchronization of primary cultures with methotrexate for high-resolution banding was performed in five cases. In the remaining four cases, the chromosomes were obtained from short-term cultures after prolonged (16 hr) exposure to Colcemid. Two cases were near-tetraploid, one was hypotriploid, and six were near-diploid (three hyperdiploid and three hypodiploid). All but one case showed various structural abnormalities in the karyotype. The chromosomal changes ranged from the presence of only two abnormal chromosomes (markers) to complex karyotypes with as many as 15 markers. In most tumors, the origin of the marker chromosomes could be readily deciphered. The nonrandom chromosomal aberrations included: (a) an isochrosome of the short arm of chromosome 5 (three cases); (b) monosomy of chromosome 9 found in four cases (this was the sole abnormality in one case); (c) involvement of chromosome 8 as an isochromosome of the long arm (two cases) or loss of the short arm due to deletion (one case) or translocation (one case); and (d) interstitial deletion of chromosome 13 (three cases). Our results indicate that the formation of i(5p) and monosomy 9 may be the primary karyotypic changes in two subgroups of transitional cell carcinoma. Involvement of chromosomes 8 and 13, on the other hand, seems to be a result of secondary karyotypic evolution. Two invasive tumors showed the presence of secondary clones, with additional structural chromosome aberrations superimposed on those already existing in the main cell population. In both cases, the additional aberrations involved the short arm of chromosome 11, resulting in loss of genetic material from the short arm. The short arm of chromosome 11, is the putative site of an oncogene which has been isolated from human bladder carcinoma cell lines. Deletion of the 11p was also seen in one case of noninvasive transitional cell carcinoma localized in the ureter; the material from 11p was probably translocated to chromosome 13. These findings suggest that the loss of genetic material from the short arm of chromosome 11 is a secondary event in the karyotypic evolution of transitional cell carcinoma, probably related to the invasive behavior of the tumor.