Primary urachal mucinous adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder

Abstract

Urinary bladder cancer is the second most frequent tumour of the genitourinary tract with bladder adenocarcinoma comprising for about 0.5-2% of all malignant bladder tumours. Other primary sites for such tumours include rectum, stomach, endometrium, breast, prostate, seminal vesicles and ovaries. Such non-urothelial bladder tumours with intramural bladder tumour growth may delay the onset of symptoms which may lead to a delay in the diagnosis and thereby adversely affecting the prognosis as compared to urothelial bladder tumours. Traditionally bladder adenocarcinomas were believed to be resistant to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but recent advancements have shown encouraging responses with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We present here a case of primary urachal mucinous adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder highlighting their relative rarity of occurrence and the difficulties encountered in diagnosing primary bladder mucinous adenocarcinoma.