Bladder carcinoma in a 31-year-old female spina bifida patient with an auto-augmented bladder

Abstract

We present the case of a 31-year-old spina bifida patient presenting with a poorly differentiated T3N1M0 bladder carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation in an auto-augmented bladder. She underwent a radical cystectomy and a bilateral lymph node dissection. However, only 10 months after the onset of her symptoms, she died after major lymphatic metastases had developed in the small pelvis. This case report is the first on an adult spina bifida patient developing bladder carcinoma after detrusorectomy. It shows that bladder cancer also occurs in patients who underwent detrusorectomy, despite the fact that the risk is supposedly lower than in patients who underwent enterocystoplasty. Moreover, tumour spread to adjacent organs could occur more rapidly in auto-augmented bladders because of the lack of muscle tissue. The latter could have serious implications on the prognosis of these patients.