Metastatic urachal cancer treated effectively with gemcitabine/cisplatin combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy: A case report.

Abstract

Urachal cancer often presents at an advanced stage with poor prognosis due to the lack of an effective systematic therapeutic strategy. We experienced a case of metastatic urachal cancer treated effectively by combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy. A 55-year-old female presented to our department with right lower abdominal pain. A transurethral biopsy of an urachal tumor suggested urachal adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin for metastatic urachal cancer. As tumor markers declined and the radiological findings indicated stability of disease, external beam radiotherapy was then administered to the primary site. Chemotherapy was then administered again in response to tumor markers gradually increasing and the progression of multiple peritoneal metastases. However, the patient did not complete chemotherapy due to hematological toxicity. The patient succumbed to primary disease 23 months after initial diagnosis. Previous studies have reported that the median time from the diagnosis of metastatic urachal cancer to mortality is just over 1 year. By contrast, in the present case the patient survived up to 2 years with combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy, a rare incidence worthy of reporting.