Severely contracted bladder following intravesical mitomycin C therapy

Most superficial bladder tumors are best treated by transurethral resection. However, because of their multifocal origin and high rate of recurrence they often present challenging therapeutic problems. Intravesical chemotherapy often is used in such cases in the treatment and prevention of recurrent transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Recently, mitomycin C intravesical chemotherapy was shown to be effective in the treatment of superficial bladder tumors. No systemic toxicities were described but bladder irritation and drug-related palmar desquamation were noted. We report a case of a severely contracted bladder requiring urinary diversion following intravesical chemotherapy with mitomycin C. A possible relationship of this complication to the mitomycin C treatment is suggested.