Urinary Large Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: A Clinicopathologic Analysis of 22 Cases

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the urinary tract is a rare disease. We present a relatively large retrospective cohort of urinary LCNEC, 20 from the urinary bladder, and 2 from the ureter, from a single institution. The patients included 16 men and 6 women with a median age of 74.5 years. Most LCNEC presented at an advanced stage with tumors invading the muscularis propria and beyond (21/22). Eight cases were pure LCNEC, while 14 cases were mixed with other histologic types, including conventional urothelial carcinoma (n=9), carcinoma in situ (n=7), small cell carcinoma (n=6), and urothelial carcinoma with glandular (n=3) features. Most LCNEC expressed neuroendocrine markers synaptophysin (22/22), chromogranin (13/16), CD56 (7/7), TTF1 (8/8), and INSM1 (2/3). They were negative for common urothelial markers including HMWCK (0/3), p40/p63 (0/6), CK20 (0/10), and had variable GATA3 staining (4/8). Ki-67 stained 25% to nearly 100% tumor cell nuclei. Patient survival was associated with cancer stage, and pure LCNEC showed worse survival than mixed LCNEC. Compared with small cell carcinoma at similar stages from a prior study, LCNEC had a worse prognosis only when patients developed metastatic disease. For organ-confined LCNEC, neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical resection is the treatment option to achieve long-term survival.