Urethral cavernous hemangioma: a highly misdiagnosed disease (a case report of two patients and literature review)

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of urethral cavernous hemangioma (UCH) is very rare. It can be easy to misdiagnose and mistreat due to its atypical clinical manifestations and a lack of relevant knowledge. The study is to explore the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment of UCH. CASE PRESENTATION: The first patient was a 15-year-old male, who was admitted to the hospital for more than 1 year with repeated hematuria. UCH was diagnosed by cystoscope biopsy, and cured with local injection of pingyangmycin. The second patient was a 49-year-old male, who was admitted for repeated painless gross hematuria and intermittent urethral bleeding after penile erection for more than 20 years. The case had been misdiagnosed as seminal vesiculitis, urethritis, or prostatitis, for over 20 years, until it was diagnosed as UCH by MR examination of the penis. It was treated by injection of pingyangmycin into the hemangioma’s lumen and base. A small incision in the ventral penile area was separated from the location of the hemangioma, which was injected with pingyangmycin again. A biopsy of resected tissue further confirmed the diagnosis of UCH. CONCLUSIONS: UCH is an easily misdiagnosed disease. Intermittent painless hematuria is important characteristic of UCH. Local injection of pingyangmycin is a good option for treatment of UCH. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12894-019-0441-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.