Plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma - A clinicopathological case series of an aggressive variant of urothelial cancer

Background: Many new morphological variants of urothelial carcinoma of urinary bladder have been described in the literature, plasmacytoid/signet ring cell/diffuse variant being one of the rare amongst these. Till date, no case series has been reported from India, describing this variant. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological data of 14 patients diagnosed at our center with plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma. Results: Seven cases (50%) were pure forms while the remaining 50% of cases had a concurrent conventional urothelial carcinoma component. Immunohistochemistry was performed to rule out other mimickers of this variant. Treatment-related data were available for seven patients, while follow-up was available for nine cases. Conclusion: Overall, plasmacytoid variant of urothelial carcinoma is considered to be an aggressive tumor with poor prognosis.