Bladder extramedullary plasmacytoma and synchronous bladder urothelial transitional cell carcinoma: A case report and review of the literature

Karan Wadhwa, Raj Singh, Lemke Z Solomon
Department of Urology, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK

Abstract: A 69-year-old man presented with sudden onset of macroscopic hematuria. While an ultrasound of the bladder revealed a posterior bladder mass, subsequent flexible cystoscopy demonstrated only an area of irregular urothelium. Initial general anesthetic cytoscopy and biopsy revealed conventional G2/3 T1 TCC. Histology of a further formal resection of this irregular area revealed carcinoma-in-situ and population of atypical cells with enlarged nuclei, prominent nucleoli, and varying quantities of cytoplasm showing plasma cell features. The immunohistochemistry was consistent with a plasmacytoma. There must be a high index of suspicion when ultrasound demonstrates a mass not detected by flexible cystoscopy, and biopsies/resection are advised to exclude extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) as the cause. EMP of the urinary bladder is a rare entity with only 21 cases reported in the literature. In this report we describe a further case of EMP of the bladder associated with synchronous transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urothelium. We also highlight the important histopathological findings and review the current literature to report the outcomes of existing approaches to management of this rare form of bladder cancer. We believe this to be the first case reported in which a patient presented concurrently with bladder EMP and urothelial TCC. EMPs are highly radiosensitive tumors and in the case of head/neck disease, survival at 10 years is in the order of 65% following radical radiotherapy. Given the paucity of reported cases of primary bladder EMP, the optimal treatment regime remains unclear. In keeping with other anatomical sites current treatment is based to the assumed benefit of radical radiotherapy and prognosis appears to be better in those with no evidence of systemic disease.

Keywords: bladder cancer, extramedullary plasmacytoma, urothelial transitional cell carcinoma