Surgical treatment of recurrent urachal carcinoma with liver metastasis: a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Urachal carcinoma is a rare malignancy with poor prognosis due to late presentation of the disease and its aggressiveness. Surgery remains the mainstay of therapy even in cases of disease recurrence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of salvage surgery in the case of urachal carcinoma with liver metastasis. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was a young woman who suffered from locally advanced urachal carcinoma treated with en-bloc cystectomy, hysterectomy with bilateral adnexectomy, partial resection of the sigmoid colon, and partial resection of the rectus abdominis muscle with the fascia, skin, and umbilicus. Adjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin was applied. Two years after the treatment, she was diagnosed with a single liver metastasis and a local pelvic recurrence. In a two-step operation, the patient underwent right hemihepatectomy as well as resection of pelvic recurrence site and adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine. Due to the disease progression, a complete resection of the lesions was not achieved and the response to chemotherapy was poor. The patient died of the disease after a year. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery is the first line of treatment for urachal carcinoma and should be always considered as an option in cases of disease recurrence. Radical initial surgical management, close patient surveillance, and prompt treatment of disease relapse may all contribute to prolonging patient’s survival.