OBJECTIVE Many attempts have been made during decades to identify factors predictive of prognosis in patients with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder. The present study attempts to determine the predictive factors in a large series of patients with long follow-up homogeneously treated at three institutions from 1983 to 1992. METHODS The clinical and histological factors with presumed prognostic value were retrospectively evaluated in a series of 331 patients with a mean follow-up of 7.2 years, and a study of survival was performed. RESULTS Univariate analysis showed tumor stage, growth pattern, grade, size, coexisting dysplasia, histologic type, topography of the lesion and patient age are useful parameters for the prediction of prognosis. The Cox analysis revealed tumor stage is the most important prognostic variable (Beta = 1.23, p < .001), followed by growth pattern as determined by the presence or absence of a papillary phenotype (Beta = 1.18, p < .001), tumor size (Beta = .98, p < .001), WHO modified histologic grading considering persistence or loss of cell polarity (Beta = .73, p < .01), tumor location (Beta = .48, p < .05), and histology (presence or absence of phenotypes other than pure TCC, Beta = .45, p < .05). Coexisting dysplasia, tumor multiplicity, age and sex did not independently influence survival. CONCLUSIONS Despite the advancements in the field of molecular biology relative to prognostic markers in bladder cancer, the conventional morphological parameters and tumor stage continue to be the main source of prognostic information in clinical practice.