Micropapillary Variant of Urothelial Carcinoma: A Report of 4 Cases and Literature Review

Micropapillary variant of urothelial carcinoma (MPUC) is an uncommon variant ofurothelial carcinoma with high metastatic potential. The cases reported in the literature wereassociated with high grade and advanced stages of the disease at presentation and had a poorprognosis. Four patients were diagnosed with MPUC at our center. One patient had anMPUC located in the urinary bladder, and the other three had MPUC originating from thekidney and/or the ureter respectively. All these lesions were confirmed pathologically andtreated by radical surgery. Three of the four patients were found to be in the advanced stagesof the disease. Although adjuvant chemotherapy was administered, the first and secondpatients died after 15 and 10 months, respectively. The third and fourth patients are beingfollowed up at our hospital 5 and 27 months after surgery, respectively. Clinically, MPUC isfar more aggressive than conventional urothelial carcinoma. Patients with MPUC should bediagnosed promptly and treated aggressively.