UROTHELIAL CARCINOMA IN A SUPRAPUBIC CYSTOSTOMY TRACT 27 YEARS AFTER TUBE REMOVAL

Abstract

A 57-year-old man was hospitalized with a skin tumor on the lower abdominal wall. Medical history included urinary retention in 1971 due to a urethral stricture of unknown etiology. Treatment consisted of a suprapubic catheter for 4 weeks followed by internal urethrotomy and catheter removal. Following an episode of macrohemaruria in 1995, pTa G2 transitional cell carcinoma of the left side of the bladder was resected. The patient had undergone regular followup including cystoscopy initially every 3 months and then every 6 months. Cystoscopy revealed no abnormal findings. In 1998, a few weeks after an inflammatory reaction of the skin above the symphysis pubis at the previous site of the suprapubic cystostomy, a solid tumor was detected on the cutis and the patient was referred to us. The last cystoscopy had been performed 7 months earlier. The skin at the previous cystostomy puncture site was slightly red with no signs of inflammation. An approximately 2 cm. tumor was seen directly above this site (fig. 1). Biopsy was suspicious of urothelial carcinoma with squamous cell differentiation. Abdominal