Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is considered one of the most lethal malignancies with high metastatic potential. Usually, metastatic bladder cancer carries worse prognosis with a median survival rate of approximately 6 months, which can be prolonged for up to 14 months with palliative systemic chemotherapy. We present the case of a 61-year-old male patient diagnosed with localized MIBC 10 years ago. He underwent nerve-sparing radical cystectomy with ileal neobladder, but developed pulmonary metastatic disease 7 months postoperatively. Six cycles of gemcitabine/cisplatin combination chemotherapy with an addition of gefitinib as daily oral medication were administered within a randomized phase II clinical trial; this resulted in complete remission of the pulmonary metastases. Until now, the patient is still on gefitinib daily without any side effects. Although, the addition of gefitinib to standard systemic chemotherapy has not been shown to improve the survival in metastatic urothelial cancer, this case represents a very pleasant albeit uncommon long-term outcome.

Keywords:
Bladder cancer, Gefitinib, Gemcitabine, Cisplatin, Chemotherapy, Pulmonary metastasis
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© 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel
2016
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