BLADDER-CARCINOMA WITH LYMPHOEPITHELIOMA-LIKE DIFFERENTIATION - A REPORT OF 9 CASES

Purpose: Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the bladder is rare with only 14 cases reported to date. We report 9 additional cases with long -term followup. Materials and Methods: All 713 patients with an initia l diagnosis of bladder tumor in western Sweden from 1987 through 1988 were prospectively registered and followed. A clinical and histopathol ogical review was performed on 816 bladder tumors from the files of th e oncology department treated between 1962 and 1989. Results: Of 9 pat ients with stages T2M0-T3M0 cancer treated with locoregional therapy 6 with either pure or predominant lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma patt ern had no evidence of disease after a median observation of 4 years ( range 1 to 18) and 3 with focal lymphoepitheliomalike carcinoma patter n died of disease after 9 to 68 months. Conclusions: Lymphoepithelioma -like carcinoma is diagnosed in less advanced stages and has a more fa vorable long-term prognosis than other types of undifferentiated invas ive carcinomas of the bladder. Our data and review of the literature s uggest that lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma should be treated stage b y stage like other bladder carcinomas.