Single-step procedure for the radical resection of an adenocarcinoma in the deep male urethra

Abdominoperineal excision of male lower urinary tract for synchronous adenocarcinoma of urethra and urinary bladder

Urethral adenocarcinoma is the least common histologic subtype of a rare primary carcinoma of the male urethra. Its site of origin remains speculative. The scarcity of reported cases in the literature makes it difficult to define the optimal management. This report is of a 40-year-old morbidly obese man with synchronous adenocarcinoma of the bulbar urethra and bladder, treated surgically by en bloc abdominoperineal penoprostatocystectomy. The pleural recurrence, after a disease-free period of 2 years, responded well to platinum-docetaxel-based systemic chemotherapy. Synchronous occurrence of adenocarcinoma of the urethra and bladder has not been previously reported. This case also highlights the possible role of upcoming adjuvant chemotherapeutic agents.

[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.