[Primary adenocarcinoma of the bladder].

A clinicohistopathological study of 12 cases of primary adenocarcinoma of the bladder diagnosed over an 11 year period is presented. Six of these were pure adenocarcinomas, while the remainder consisted of 2 adenocarcinoma with transitional malignant elements, 2 adenosquamous carcinomas and 2 mesonephric adenocarcinomas. The biological behaviour of these neoplasms was particularly aggressive: in none of the cases was the neoplasm limited to the bladder epithelium, but was generally seen to have infiltrated the muscular wall. Leaving aside the specific treatment carried out, the prognosis was in all patients poor and a complete clinical recovery was achieved for just 2 subjects. Except for one case, death was always directly attributable to bladder cancer, but as a result of obstructive and inflammatory diseases relating to the size and the degree of local infiltration of the tumor rather than metastatic spread.