Surgical and chemotherapeutic options for urachal carcinoma: Report of ten cases and literature review

Objective: Several studies have associated urachal carcinoma with a poor prognosis, because the disease tends to be detected later as the patient is asymptomatic, there are few therapeutic options, and it has a high local recurrence rate. We review our experience with urachal carcinoma and discuss the role of surgical management and chemotherapeutic options. Patients and Methods: We reviewed the records of 10 cases with urachal carcinoma evaluated at Keio University Hospital from 1998 to 2009, and examine the surgical and chemotherapeutic options in the management of urachal carcinoma. Results: Median age was 55.0 years. Applying the TNM staging system, 1 case was in stage I, 4 cases in stage II, 4 cases in stage III, and 1 case was in stage IV. Nine cases were managed initially with surgery; 5 by partial cystectomy and 4 by total cystectomy. The median follow-up period was 3.5 years and the survival rate at 2 years was 87.5%. Six of the resected cases remain disease-free. Salvage chemotherapy was performed in 3 cases, and adjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 2 cases. Conclusions: We had 10 cases with urachal carcinoma. While there is still no standard chemotherapy combination, CPT-11 plus TS-1 produced stable disease in 1 case.