The ureter is a hollow muscular tube that carries the urine from the kidney to the bladder. Most cancers of the ureter are similar to those in the bladder. They are called transitional cell carcinomas (cancer in the lining of the ureter).

In patients with chronic kidney infection or kidney stones, squamous cell carcinoma may also develop (cancer that begins in squamous cells, which are thin, flat cells found in the tissue that forms the lining of the ureter).