Adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder. Histochemical distinction between urachal and metastatic carcinomas

The mucopolysaccharide production of urachal and metastatic adenocarcinomas in the urinary bladder has been investigated. It is shown that urachal carcinomas do not produce sulphated acid mucopolysaccharides, whereas the metastases from the large bowel do. Since colonic carcinomas constitute the metastatic adenocarcinomas most common to the bladder, this histochemical difference is regarded as a useful distinguishing feature.