Shoe Polish Dyestuff Carcinogenicity

Abstract

To the Editor.— There is already a voluminous list of human activities implicated in bladder carcinogenesis. We wish to call attention to the development of diffuse urothelial malignancy in a patient exposed to shoe polish. Report of a Case.— A 69-year-old woman was seen initially in September 1967 because of gross hematuria. Physical examination and routine investigations were unremarkable. An initial intravenous pyelogram (IVP) was normal. At cystoscopy two small superficial tumors were found and effulgurated. She was cystoscoped at three-month intervals, and several small recurrences were dealt with by transurethral fulguration. Yearly IVPs were negative until four years after the initial diagnosis when a defect was observed in the right ureter (Figure). Further investigation indicated the presence of a ureteral tumor. A right nephroureterectomy was performed, and a transitional cell carcinoma was found histologically. On careful questioning it was learned that this patient had worked, in her youth, and