Metastatic Urachal Carcinoma Treated With Several Different Combined Regimens: A Case Report

Abstract

Urachal carcinoma is a rare bladder malignance. This study presents a case of an elderly patient with urachal carcinoma who was found to have pulmonary metastases 1 year after 5 recurrent resections. The patient was treated with up to 7 different chemotherapy regimens, including a VEGF monoclonal antibody and anti-PD-1 antibody. This is the first report of PD-1 antibody being used in patients with urachus, although the disease progressed after only four cycles of the application. The patient’s disease was controlled by the FOLFIRI combined with the VEGF monoclonal antibody regimen. The most prominent issues at present are the difficulty of obtaining drugs for rare cancers and the lack of late-stage clinical trials to guide therapeutic decisions.

Treatment approaches for urachal cancer: Use of immunotherapy and targeted therapies

“…A case report by Zheng et al discussed the case of a patient who developed pulmonary metastases while on chemotherapy for recurrent localized disease. 27 The patient was treated with 3 cycles of gemcitabine plus nedaplatin, and due to no reduction in tumor size, an anti-PD-L antibody was added although the immunotherapy drug name is not specified in the report. The patient was found to have stable disease on repeat imaging after 3 cycles of combination chemotherapy plus immunotherapy, but ultimately developed disease progression after 5 cycles of treatment.…”