Case Report: Metachronous urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis following radical cystectomy: a rare case report

Abstract

Introduction: Bladder carcinoma (BC) is the most common urinary tumor. The most common histologic type of BC is urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) According to GLOBOCAN 2020 data, there were 573,000 new cases and 213,000 deaths from bladder cancer in 2015. The likelihood of developing upper urinary tract cancer after a bladder tumor were being treated is minimal; nonetheless, such lesions can develop later. Case Report: A 52-year-old man with urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis, previously had UCB. Initially, in 2019, he developed hematuria. It was accompanied by dysuria. Every day, the patient smoked 2 packs. The patient denied having a chronic disease. No family history of cancer. At that time, it was discovered that the patient had urothelial bladder cancer following transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). Histopathology revealed bladder-invasive urothelial carcinoma. The patient then underwent radical cystectomy and ileal conduit. The patient was stable afterward, but during the pandemic period, the follow-up was disturbed. Early in 2021, the patient got hematuria. The patient was referred for a right radical nephrectomy due to a metachronous mass in the right renal pelvis. The histopathological result indicated a high-grade invasive upper urinary urothelial carcinoma. Conclusion: This study reported a case of metachronous urothelial bladder cancer in the upper urinary tract following radical cystectomy. Thorough surveillance in malignancy cases is a mandatory procedure to detect the recurrence of the malignancy and/or the uneventful spreading of the malignancy to other organs. The research regarding the pathophysiology of metachronous malignancy is still being conducted but has shown some promising results.