Bladder carcinoma associated with cyclophosphamide therapy for ovarian cancer occurring with a latency of 20 years

Background. Cyclophosphamide-induced urothelium cancer of the bladder is a well-known entity, The risk for inducing such cancer grows with duration an d dosage of cyclophosphamide therapy. The lag time between termination of t reatment and development of urothelial cancer has been observed to be betwe en 9 months and 11 years. Single cases have been reported 14, 16, 17, and 2 1 years after cyclophosphamide treatment. Case. We report a case of a bladder cancer occurring after a lag time of 20 years after oral therapy with cyclophosphamide for ovarian cancer. The bla dder cancer was detected due to gross hematuria. Conclusion. It is of great importance for gynecologists to continue to care for patients who have received long-term cyclophosphamide treatment, even if the treatment was completed decades ago. One possible early symptom of c yclophosphamide-induced bladder cancer is painless hematuria. This can easi ly be used to detect bladder cancer in women at risk, even after a very lon g latency period, (C) 2001 Academic Press.