Primary adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder: a single site analysis of 21 cases

To investigate whether there is a difference between urachal and non-urachal adenocarcinomas in terms of patient survival and to determine the significant prognostic factors.

Thirty-four patients with histologically proven adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder were treated at Huashan hospital between 1999 and 2010. 13 cases were excluded, including 12 patients with metastatic involvement from gastrointestinal or reproductive tracts and one without follow-up data after the initial consultation. Life tables, Kaplan-Meier, Cox regression analysis and log-rank test were used.

The difference between patients with urachal adenocarcinoma and patients with non-urachal adenocarcinoma was not statistically significant using the Kaplan-Meier estimates (P = 0.0763). Clinical stage had a significant influence on survival (P = 0.0320, Fig. 2). Patients with surgical resection including partial and radical cystectomy did not have a better prognosis (P = 0.7992, Fig. 3). However, the difference is statistically significant between patients who received partial cystectomy and patients who received radical cystectomy (P = 0.0123, Fig. 4).

Survival of Patients with adenocarcinoma is correlated with clinical stage. Patients with urachal adenocarcinoma and non-urachal adenocarcinoma may have similar survival outcome. Tumor stage was a highly significant predictor of outcome (P = 0.0320). Surgical resection seems to be more important than chemotherapy in the cases of adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder. We are in favor of radical cystectomy for all patients.