Acute extraperitoneal spontaneous bladder rupture in cervical cancer patient undergoing chemoradiation: A case report and review of the literature

The standard of care for locally advanced cervical cancer is pelvic radiotherapy with sensitizing cisplatin, and intracavitary brachytherapy. This standard of care treatment paradigm has best survival outcomes, however is associated with genitourinary toxicities. Spontaneous bladder rupture (SBR) is a rare complication of chemoradiation that has only been reported in literature as an intraperitoneal rupture occurring years after the cessation of treatment. We herein present a novel case of extraperitoneal SBR in a 27-year-old female with FIGO Stage IIIC cervical cancer and no prior surgical history who was undergoing chemoradiation with sensitizing cisplatin. During her final planned brachytherapy treatment upon instilling the bladder under ultrasound guidance, an anterior midline extraperitoneal rupture was noted. She was managed conservatively for several weeks and during this time was ultimately able to complete her external beam therapy and last cycle of cisplatin. After approximately ten weeks of conservative management, imaging demonstrated complete resolution of the rupture. A review of the literature suggests this complication tends to occur as an intraperitoneal rupture years after the cessation of therapy. Late genitourinary complications and types of complications are rarely reported in clinical trials, so it is difficult to determine the true incidence of rare complications and identify patients that may be at risk.