Locally advanced female urethral adenocarcinoma of enteric origin: The role of adjuvant chemoradiation and brief review

• Main Authors: Ling-Ping Chen, Shyh-Jer Lin, Ting-Ying Fu, Ming-Sun Yu, 陳苓萍, 林世哲, 傅婷瑛, 余明生
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2011-04-01
• Series: Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: Adjuvant chemotherapy; Chemoradiation; Irinotecan; Urethral adenocarcinoma; Urethral carcinoma
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1607551X10000446

Primary female urethral adenocarcinoma (FUA) is rare and has a poor prognosis. The common manifestations include urethrorrhagia, urinary frequency, dysuria, urethral obstructions, focal tenderness, and urinary tract infection. These symptoms are neither diagnostic nor pathognomonic; therefore, a delay in diagnosis and even a misdiagnosis is hardly uncommon. The histogenesis of FUAs may have derived from urethritis glandularis, Mullerian ducts, Skene’s glands, or mixed origins. Tumors of different embryologic origins displayed heterogeneous pathological morphology and immunohistochemistical phenotypes. Because of its rarity and the lack of large-scale studies, there is no current consensus on the optimal treatment of urethral adenocarcinomas. Here, we report two cases of locally advanced FUA of enteric origin. They manifested as slightest warning symptoms of urinary tract infection and stress urinary incontinence, respectively. One patient died of disease progression 2 months after curative operation. The other patient underwent surgery followed by adjuvant irinotecan-containing chemoradiation, and the effect was at least modest. Hence, we recommend adjuvant chemoradiation in locally advanced FUA. Individualizing cancer care of chemoregimens in accordance with the tumor origins may probably be beneficial in FUAs.