Objective: To review patients with genitourinary (GU) small cell carcinoma (SCC) treated at a regional cancer centre, as due to its rarity and aggressive nature, GU SCC remains a therapeutic challenge.
Patients and methods: The charts of patients managed at a regional cancer centre between 1991 and 2002 for any GU diagnosis were manually reviewed to identify GU SCC. Demographic, staging, treatment and outcome data were extracted. The Veterans Administration small cell lung cancer staging classification of "limited" or "extensive" disease was adapted for SCC of the prostate and bladder (with "limited" defined as disease localized to the true and false pelvis, and "extensive" as disease beyond the pelvis).
Results: In all, 555, 858 and 5066 new cases of primary renal, bladder and prostate cancer, respectively, were identified. Of these patients, 22 had GU SCC (12 bladder and 10 prostate; there were no cases of SCC of the kidney). Eight of 12 patients with bladder SCC had limited disease; five of 12 are alive (all with limited disease at diagnosis), and the median survival was 19.8 months. Surviving patients received similar therapy, with transurethral resection of the bladder tumour, platinum-based chemotherapy, etoposide (4-6 cycles), and radical radiotherapy (56-60 Gy). Two of 10 patients with SCC of the prostate had limited-stage disease, but all 10 died, the median survival being 9.5 months. Survival by stage for both types combined was 59 months for limited disease and 8 months for extensive disease.
Conclusions: These results indicate that GU SCC is an aggressive cancer; limited-stage SCC of the bladder or prostate, when treated with platinum/etoposide chemotherapy and radical radiotherapy, has a more favourable outcome than that of extensive GU SCC.