COW-2021-03

CASE OF THE WEEK

2021-03 / January 18
Contributors: Marcelo Luis Pereira de Souza Filho, Carlos Alberto dos Santos Silva, Daniel Athanazio

A man in his 80s presented with gross hematuria for the past three months. He underwent transurethral resection of a bladder tumor.

Quiz

1. What is the correct diagnosis?

A. Urothelial carcinoma and small cell carcinoma

B. Prostatic adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma

C. Primary bladder adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma

D. Metastatic mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms

1. Urothelial carcinoma and small cell carcinoma

Both urothelial and prostate carcinoma may coexist with small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. In this case, a predominant component of small cell carcinoma coexisted with an epithelial neoplasm with villoglandular and cribriform morphology. Advanced age and cribriform morphology are suggested as indicatives of prostate adenocarcinoma, which may show papillary or pseudopapillary features. In this scenario, pathologists should have a low threshold to perform immunostains. In this case, despite cribriform morphology, the immunoprofile was supportive of urothelial carcinoma with glandular differentiation. As shown in the figures above, the villoglandular component was reactive for cytokeratins 7 and 20, and GATA3 while the solid tumor was reactive only for CD56. The entire tumor was negative for PSA and CDX2.

Based on current CAP, ICCR and NCCN guidelines, any amount of small cell carcinoma component within a urothelial carcinoma qualifies the whole tumor as small cell carcinoma since this morphology will guide treatment.

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7. National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical (NCCN) Practice Guidelines in Oncology – Bladder Cancer. [https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/default.aspx].
8. Paner GP, Zhou M, Srigley JR et al. College of American Pathologists. Protocol for the examination of specimens from patients with carcinoma of the urinary bladder, 2020

Marcelo Luis Pereira de Souza Filho
Hospital Universitário Professor Edgard Santos
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Carlos Alberto dos Santos Silva
Professor of Medicine, Federal University of Bahia
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Daniel Athanazio
Professor of Medicine, Federal University of Bahia
Imagepat, Laboratory of Pathology
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Bladder

Bladder; urothelial carcinoma; divergent differentiation