The pathologic material and medical records of 76 patients with primary upper urinary tract carcinomas were reviewed to identify the role of grade and stage in predicting survival; to determine any differences in survival between ureteral and renal pelvic carcinoma; to understand the role of local therapy in low grade, low stage tumors; and to establish the usefulness of adjuvant therapies in metastatic disease. Kaplan-Meier survival curves with Cox-Mantel analysis for statistical significance revealed both grade and stage to be excellent predictors of survival. No differences in survival were noted between renal pelvic and ureteral carcinomas for equivalent stage tumors. For low grade, low stage tumors, although there was an increased risk of local recurrence with local therapy, there were no differences in survival between patients treated with local therapy or radical surgery. Finally, cisplatin-based chemotherapy seemed to improve survival in patients with metastatic disease.