PRIMARY SMALL-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE BLADDER - A REPORT OF 25 CASES

Primary small cell carcinoma of the bladder is a rare condition with a pproximately 100 cases reported to date. An incidence of 0.7% small ce ll carcinoma was found in a total series of bladder tumors diagnosed i n Western Sweden during a 2-year period. We describe 22 patients with primary small cell carcinoma followed to death or for at least 6 years . Three additional cases were diagnosed at autopsy. Of 18 patients wit h stages T2M0 to T4M0 cancer treated with locoregional therapy 5 (28%) had no evidence of disease after a median observation of 10 years (ra nge 6 to 18) and 13 died of disease after 0.5 to 19 months (median 7.3 ). Two patients with metastatic disease were treated with systemic che motherapy but died within 15 months. Two patients died shortly after t he diagnostic biopsy. Our study and a review of the literature indicat e that primary small cell carcinoma of the bladder is less aggressive than its pulmonary counterpart and that some patients can be cured by transurethral resection, or partial or radical cystectomy combined wit h radiotherapy.