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Bladder cancer is a common genitourinary malignancy with variable metastatic potential. Cutaneous metastasis is uncommon and often presents with a poor prognosis. We presented a 47-year-old man with a history of muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder and suffered from headache and right arm swelling that had persisted for months. The excisional biopsy of the skin lesions and scalp tumor showed high-grade metastatic carcinoma of urothelial origin. Even though is rare, cutaneous metastasis is still the possibility of urothelial carcinoma metastasis and mimics several types of skin lesions. There is no guideline for cutaneous metastases of urothelial carcinoma because of the small number of patients and poor prognoses. Chemotherapy remains the treatment of choice, and further studies are needed to assess the efficacy of immunotherapy for skin metastases of urothelial carcinoma.

Background: Surgical removal of huge renal and retroperitoneal tumors, such as adrenal cortical carcinoma or renal cell carcinoma with inferior vena cava (IVC) invasion, remains a challenge for urologists. Aim: Herein, we describe our experience with the modified Makuuchi incision for huge renal and retroperitoneal tumors. Methods: We applied the modified Makuuchi incision in 10 patients with a huge renal or retroperitoneal tumor. Another 11 patients with a huge renal or retroperitoneal tumor using different surgical incisions other than modified Makuuchi incision were collected for comparison. The modified Makuuchi incision of the abdomen is initiated in the cephalad to the xiphoid, extended 1 cm above the umbilicus, and then extended laterally to the lateral flank. Through the incision, we mobilized the colon, and when the renal space was seen, the tumor was removed. If an invasion of a nearby organ occurred, a general or cardiovascular surgery specialist was consulted for combined surgery. The patients' age ranged from 43 to 82 years (three men and seven women). Results: The modified Makuuchi incision provided good and rapid exposure. No unexpected organ injuries occurred during surgery. There were no wound-related complications, such as dehiscence or incisional hernia, after 3 months of follow-up. Partial hepatectomy, splenectomy, distal pancreatectomy, and thrombectomy of the IVC thrombus were performed through the same incision. Conclusion: Our experience demonstrated that the modified Makuuchi incision is a good choice for patients with huge renal and retroperitoneal tumors, even those with nearby organ invasion.

Abstract To compare perioperative circulating tumor cells (CTC) in primary upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients who underwent hand-assisted retroperitoneoscopic nephroureterectomy (HANU) or robotic-assisted nephroureterectomy (RANU). A total of 29 patients received RANU (n = 10) or HANU (n = 19). Peripheral blood samples were collected before, 24 h after surgery (POh24) and on postoperative day 28 (POD28). The demographic and pathologic data are similar in both groups. RANU had a longer operative time (p = 0.031), less bleeding volume (p = 0.004), and comparable pain sore (p = 0.169). The mean CTC numbers before surgery (2.4 vs. 2.3, p = 0.482), POh24 (2.4 vs. 1.9, p = 0.668) and POD28 (0.5 vs. 0.6, p = 0.280) were not significant different among groups. The amount of CTCs in both groups decreased and reached similar level on POD28. No significant difference of overall and intravesical recurrence rate between the two approaches. In comparison to RANU, more surgical manipulation does not affect tumor cell translocation into the bloodstream in UTUC patients who received HANU. However, a longer follow-up would be needed for the final comparison of tumor recurrence.

This study aimed to explore the existence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) and their predictive potential for response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). From 33 blood samples of MIBC patients, CTCs were isolated by cell surface markers and enriched by the IsoFlux™ device, followed by morphological and immunofluorescent identification. CTCs were detected at baseline in all samples. Immunofluorescence confirmed the tumor origin. MIBC patients were stratified by NAC response into the disease control (DC) and progressive disease (PD) groups. In the DC group, the number of CTCs decreased significantly after four courses of NAC (p < 0.0001). CTC counts in 7.5 mL after four NAC cycles were highly correlated with postoperative pathological T stage (p < 0.0001). Our study demonstrated that CTCs might represent a valuable predictive marker for NAC response in MIBC. CTC detection in MIBC patients could allow early arrangement of radical cystectomy for NAC non-responders to prevent disease progression while receiving the NAC courses.