Primary adenocarcinoma of the urethra with metastasis to the glans penis: successful treatment with chemotherapy and radiation therapy

Metastatic tumors to the penis: a report of 17 cases and review of the literature

This study presents clinicopathologic and outcome features of 17 patients with metastatic tumor to the penis. Primary sites and histological types were as follows: 6 urothelial carcinomas of urinary bladder, 4 prostatic carcinomas (2 adenocarcinomas and 2 adenosquamous carcinomas), 2 colorectal adenocarcinomas, 2 pulmonary carcinomas (1 squamous cell carcinoma and 1 small cell carcinoma), 1 squamous cell carcinoma of base of the tongue, 1 cutaneous malignant melanoma, and 1 acute myeloid leukemia. Literature review revealed similar distribution of organ sites in 437 cases. Most of our tumors were metachronous. Interval between primary and penile metastasis ranged from 3 to 60 months (mean 16 months). Most of the patients presented with a penile mass. Priapism was observed in 4 patients. The shaft was the commonest anatomical site involved (12 cases). Tumor emboli were usually found in the erectile tissues (14 cases), mainly corpora cavernosa. A total of 14 patients died of disseminated disease. Time interval between primary tumor and penile metastasis ranged from 3 to 60 months (mean 19 months) and between diagnosis of penile metastasis and death ranged from 0.25 to 18 months (mean 6 months), significantly shorter (P = .0058). Patients presented a median survival of 18 months from primary treatment and 5 months after diagnosis of penile metastasis. None of the patients who died of disseminated cancer lived more than 18 months after pathological diagnosis. Clinical evidence of penile involvement in a patient with a known malignancy is an ominous sign and should alert the clinicians to the dismal prognosis.

Mucinous adenocarcinoma of posterior urethra. Report of a case

Primary carcinoma of the male urethra accounts for less than 1% of malignancies in males. Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the urethra is extremely rare, and its biologic behavior is not well known. We report a case of mucinous adenocarcinoma showing the histologic features of colloid adenocarcinoma that appears to have evolved either by neoplastic degeneration of goblet cells found in the urethral epithelium or by malignant degeneration of persistent glandular elements of uretheritis cystica and glandularis.

Urethral metastasis of lung carcinoma with germinative cell features

INTRODUCTION

We present the case of a patient with urethral metastasis of a lung carcinoma with germinative cell features.

CASE REPORT

A White, 57-year old man underwent urologic assessment due to gross hematuria. Patient was being treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy during the past 3 months due to primary carcinoma of the lung with brain metastasis. Urethrocistoscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging revealed a stenosing mass invading the bulbomembranous urethra. No other tumor was found. Biopsy specimens, obtained from the lung, brain and urethra tumors, revealed the same neoplasia, with definitive diagnosis being undifferentiated giant cell carcinoma of the lung with germinative features. Considering his clinical condition and poor prognosis, a decision was made to treat the patient only clinically. Clinical conditions deteriorated and the patient evolved to death within 3 months.

COMMENTS

As far as we were able to access, urethral metastasis from lung carcinoma had never been described in the indexed literature. Due to the extremely limited experience with these tumors, there is not a defined treatment and the prognosis remains quite poor.

[Ureteral adenocarcinoma in men: a case report]

Adenocarcinoma of urethra is a rare tumour, which occurs more often in female than in male. The localizations on bulbomenbranous urethra, most frequent, have worse prognostic than those of penile urethra. Because of scarcity of these tumours there is not therapeutic consensus. The treatment is based on the tripod surgery, more or less mutilating, chemotherapy and radiotherapy associated or managed in a separate way. We report the case of a young patient with adenocarcinoma of the posterior urethra treated by a protocol of radio-chemotherapy.

[Primary adenocarcinoma of the male urethra. A case report]

Primary adenocarcinoma of the male urethra is very uncommon, accounts for 5% of primary urethral cancers. All types of urethral carcinomas account for less than 1% of urinary malignancies in man. The prognosis remains poor despite the wide surgical treatment. The place of chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy must be defined by other studies. We report a case of primary locally advanced adenocarcinoma arising in the bulbo-membranous urethra. The patient was 29 years old, without any previous history of venerian disease. He was treated by combined external beam radiotherapy (total dose 67Gy) and chemotherapy (Cisplatinum). A marked reduction of tumor volume has been noted but the patient died because of the appearance of bone metastasis which failed to the systemic therapy.