Prognostic impact of HER2/neu protein in urothelial bladder cancer. Survival analysis of 80 cases and an overview of almost 20 years' research.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate the quantitative assessment of HER2/neu immunohistochemical expression in urothelial bladder cancer in order to determine its prognostic significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Archival tumor tissue from 80 patients with primary urothelial carcinoma were analysed for HER2/neu immunohistochemical expression. A highly reproducible standardized procedure on a Bond-X automated slide stainer was used. RESULTS: HER2 protein was overexpressed in 41 of 80 patients (51.25%), demonstrating an increase in the expression rate corresponding to progressively advanced tumor stage (p=0.032) and tumor grade (p=0.0001). Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that positive membranous expression of HER2/neu was not associated with an increased probability of tumor recurrence (p=0.362). In contrast, HER2 scores correlated strongly with specific survival probability (p=0.002) and overall survival (p=0.025). Multivariate analysis revealed that only stage was an independent predictor of specific survival (p=0.016). HER2 expression was an independent predictor of specific survival with borderline statistical significance (p=0.08). CONCLUSION: HER2 overexpression represents a prognostic factor for adverse disease outcome.

Pseudomalignant spindle cell proliferation of the urinary bladder: an unusual cause of voiding symptoms in a young patient.

A case of an unusually large pseudomalignant spindle-cell proliferation (or inflammatory pseudotumor) of the urinary bladder in a young man is presented. The only symptom was urinary frequency. The clinical and radiologic evaluation (ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging) revealed a massive tumor (11 x 7.5 x 5.5 cm) arising from the bladder wall that was eventually resected without compromising bladder function. Although the histologic findings initially suggested a sarcoma, the immunohistochemical findings were consistent with that of an inflammatory pseudotumor. The patient remained asymptomatic, without evidence of recurrence, after 12 months of follow-up. Awareness of this inflammatory pseudotumor and its immunophenotypic characteristics is important to avoid an erroneous diagnosis and unnecessarily aggressive therapy.