[Urachal adenocarcinoma: analysis of 3 cases]

Adenocarcinoma of the urachus is a very rare disease. It often remains undiagnosed for a long time and has an aggressive course. Surgery, the only potentially curative treatment, was initially very extensive, but this attitude has been revised more recently. The authors present three clinical cases, and discuss the treatment options. The first two cases were treated by one-stage resection and the third case, which presented with a mucus collection in the abdomen with "signet ring" cells, was treated by Intraperitoneal ChemoHyperthermia (IPCH) during second-look laparotomy. A review of the literature shows that the current tendency is towards less mutilating surgery. Diagnostic examinations, allowing earlier detection of this disease, may possibly alter its prognosis, which was considered to be very poor up until recently.