Solitary skin metastasis from sarcomatoid carcinoma of the bladder: a case report

Introduction. Cutaneous metastases from carcinomas of the bladder are very rare. They are related to advanced stages of the disease and have poor prognosis with low survival rates. The common treatment modality of cutaneous metastases from a primary bladder cancer is wide local excision followed by chemotherapy. Case presentation. We report a case of solitary skin metastasis from a rare type of urinary bladder carcinoma in a 68 year-old Caucasian man. Urinary bladder carcinoma metastasizing to the skin is an uncommon finding despite the high incidence of this tumor. Skin metastasis generally presents in the late stages of this disease and indicates a poor outcome. Conclusions: Because of the extremely aggressive malignant potential of sarcomatoid carcinomas, the indications for a transurethral resection of the bladder should be carefully assessed and suitable therapeutic strategies should be examined further. © 2011 Manzelli et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.