Case report
Primary osteosarcoma of the urinary bladder treated with external radiotherapy in a patient with a history of transitional cell carcinoma: a case report
1 Department of Urology, General Hospital of Arta, Greece
2 Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Arta, Greece
3 Department of Radiology, General Hospital of Arta, Greece
Journal of Medical Case Reports 2010, 4:70 doi:10.1186/1752-1947-4-70
Published: 24 February 2010Abstract
Introduction
Primary osteosarcoma is one of the rare tumors affecting the urinary bladder. The occurrence of osteosarcoma in a patient with a long history of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder is even more uncommon.
Case presentation
We present the case of a 74-year-old Greek man who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma 10 years after he had been diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder from which he had been free from recurrences for the past three years. Our patient was treated for the osteosarcoma with transurethral resection of bladder tumor and external beam radiation therapy. He died eight months after the diagnosis, suffering poor quality of life in the last months.
Conclusion
Osteosarcoma of the bladder has a dismal prognosis. External beam radiation therapy as an adjunct to transurethral resection of bladder tumor not only provides no benefit to patients with primary osteosarcoma of urinary bladder, but also may be associated with poor quality of life.
