Bladder carcinoma and HIV infection during the highly active antiretroviral therapy era: A rare, but intriguing association. Two case reports and literature review

Abstract

Two very rare case reports of bladder transitional cell carcinoma associated with HIV infection in patients treated with combined antiretroviral therapy are described, and discussed on the ground of the most relevant and updated literature resources. Only 13 cases of vesical carcinoma have been reported to date in the setting of HIV infection, but only 3 anecdotal single reports (the last in the y 2001) described clinical, therapeutic, and outcome issues of this rare disease association in some detail. In our patients, micro- or macro- haematuria was the clue for in-depth diagnosis and prompt treatment, which was limited to multiple local interventions in 1 case, but finally required a radical cystectomy in the second patient. No relationship was found with the very favourable underlying HIV-related virological and immunological status, and the present 8–12-month follow-up did not show disease relapses.