2003 Volume 42 Issue 4 Pages 301-305
Background: The micropapillary variant of transitional cell carcinoma is a recently described, aggressive urinary bladder cancer. Whose cytologic features are not well known.
Cases: We report two cases of this bladder cancer confirmed by histology. Case 1: A 67-year-old woman admitted for a pelvic tumor and undergoing tumorectomy under a diagnosis of malignancy of unknown origin was found in pathologic examination to have advanced bladder cancer with extensive invasion of surrounding organs. Case 2: A 72-year-old man treated by transurethral resection for a papillary bladder tumor underwent total cystectomy 5 month later due to positive cytological and histological studies. A recurrent tumor was found in the rectum after one year. Preoperative cytological studies of both cases showed tight-cohesive papillary clusters of middle to large tumor cells with marked atypical nuclei.
Conclusion: The poor prognosis of this rare variant makes its recognition in urinary cytology extremely important.
