Serum levels and tissue expression of beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin were determined in 25 patients with bladder carcinoma. Elevated gonadotropin levels in serum were observed in 5 (20%) patients and immunoreactive cells were found in 5 (20%) tumours. The correlation was poor between serum level and immunohistochemical gonadotropin status. Only one patient showed both elevated serum level and immunohistochemical gonadotropin expression. Our observations suggest that elevated serum levels of gonadotropin may be an indicator of poor prognosis. However, immunohistochemical expression of gonadotropin did not seem to have a similar impact on prognosis in this series.