Mesonephric adenocarcinoma arising in the female urethral diverticulum

Abstract

A forty-four-year-old house-wife presented with gross hematuria and difficulty on urination of a year and 3 months duration. Transvaginal examination showed a hen egg-sized soft mass on the anterior vaginal wall. Urine cytology revealed many clusters of malignant cells suggestive of adenocarcinoma. Cystourethrography revealed two urethral diverticula, whose orifices were cystoscopically located at the proximal and distal side of urethral sphincter, respectively. By vaginal digital pressing, a soy-bean sized papillary tumor came out of the proximal diverticulum. Histopathological examination of the biopsied tumor suggested poorly differentiated transitional cell carcinoma with inverted growth. Under the diagnosis of carcinoma arising in the urethral diverticulum, anterior pelvic exenteration with formation of Inidana pouch was carried out. The tumor in the proximal diverticulum was histologically composed of a variety of adenocarcinomatous pattern, such as tubular, papillary and cystic structure with a distinctive pattern of tubules lined by a superficial layer of hobnail cells, leading to the diagnosis of mesonephric adenocarcinoma of urethral diverticulum. Postoperative radiation therapy was given because the diverticulum was adherent to the pubic bone, though lymph node metastasis was negative. She has been well with no evidence of the disease for 1 year and 4 months after the operation. Although the histogenesis of female urethral mesonephric adenocarcinoma was still controversial, this case seems to be the forty fourth case in the world literature.