Secondary malignant involvement of gynecologic organs in radical cystectomy specimens in women: is it mandatory to remove these organs routinely?

PURPOSE: We report the incidence of concomitant secondary malignancy of gynecologic organs (uterus, ovaries and vagina) and the incidence of benign lesions affecting these organs in female radical cystectomy specimens.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 1983 and December 2001, 2,055 radical cystectomies were performed, including 609 in females. Pathological findings in gynecologic organs in female cystectomy specimens were reviewed. These data were correlated with different tumor characteristics.
RESULTS: Mean age of the female patients +/- SD was 47 +/- 9 years (range 20 to 73). Mean followup was 4.3 +/- 4.2 years (range 0.5 to 19). Of these women 390 (64%) had squamous cell bladder carcinoma. Gynecologic organ involvement was documented in 16 of 609 patients (2.6%). Benign ovarian lesions (49 cases or 8%), a simple serous cyst (31), a dermoid cyst (1), a hemorrhagic cyst (3), bilharzial granuloma (6) and corpus albicans (8) were detected. Benign uterine lesions (30 cases or 5%), endometrial hyperplasia (20), endometriosis (4) and fibroids (6) were diagnosed. No primary genital cancers were detected in this study. Gynecologic organ involvement was more frequent in high grade tumors and the transitional cell cancer type than low grade tumors and the squamous cell type (p = 0.01 and 0.05, respectively). Posterior wall tumors were more frequently associated with genital involvement than other sites, although the difference was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Evidence is provided that the risk of secondary malignant involvement of genital organs in female cystectomy specimens is low. This low risk together with the low risk of primary cancers of genital organs in this group of patients does not strongly support the routine removal of uninvolved gynecologic organs during radical cystectomy in women.