Urinary bladder adenocarcinoma arising in a spina bifida patient

Urinary bladder adenocarcinomas are rare malignancies accounting for approximately 2.5% of all urothelial neoplasms. Intestinal metaplasia of the urothelium indicates the presence of intestinal-type goblet cells and was generally observed to coexist with or to precede the diagnosis of bladder adenocarcinomas. Controversy continues of whether intestinal metaplasia is an acquired precancerous lesion, secondary to different insults to the urothelium, or a concomitant lesion in glandular carcinogenesis. Patients with neurogenic bladders are particularly at risk for developing bladder cancer, mostly squamous cell carcinoma and rarely adenocarcinoma. In these patients, chronic irritation of the urothelium as well as long-term indwelling urinary catheters were the most significant risk factors. Spina bifida is a congenital developmental abnormality that may result in neurogenic bladder. There is only one previously reported case of urothelial carcinoma with associated squamous metaplasia of the bladder occurring in a spina bifida patient. We report the first case of bladder adenocarcinoma associated with intestinal metaplasia occurring in a spina bifida occulta patient. The patient had a complicated clinical course and suffered recurrent urinary tract infections, renal calculi, and urinary incontinence and was managed with intermittent as well as indwelling catheterization.