Urothelial bladder cancer in young age group: Presentation, clinical behavior and outcome

Objectives: The main aim of our study is to review the clinical presentation, histopathological features, staging and grading, as well as the recurrence, and progression (for 1 year) of UBC in patients less than 40 years age. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of 42 newly diagnosed patients with UBC between May 2016 to May 2020 at the Rizgary Teaching hospital, and Zheen International hospital in Erbil city, Iraq. Results: The mean age ± SD of the sample were 29.05 ± 7.05 years, ranging from 17 to 39 years. The median was 28.5 years. Patients were divided into three groups, Group I (6 patients) were aged ≤ 20 years, Group II (17 patients) were aged between 20-29 years old, and Group III (19 patients) were aged between 30-39 years old. The majority (78.6%) of the cases were males. Gross hematuria (73.8%) is the most common presenting symptom. The proportion of smoker patients was 61.9%. Significantly higher proportions of patients with lower grade and stage and small tumor size were detected that comparable with previous studies that support the bladder cancer in young-aged group with lower grade and stage. In one year follow up, the recurrence occurred in 6 (14.3%) of patients, just 2 of them progressed to a higher grade or stage. Conclusion: The results suggested that young patients with UBC was expecting better prognosis than older patients.