Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder.
It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body.
Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain.
Carcinoma of the urinary bladder accounts for approximately 2% of all malignant tumors and usually spreads through both local invasion and hematogenous dissemination.
In a study of 359 patients with bladder carcinoma who were treated between 1962-2001.
Fifty-two patients (14%) were reported to have neurologic complications. Complications resulting from neurologic metastases were relatively infrequent (5%). Seven patients (2%) had lumbosacral plexopathies and 6 patients (2%) had spinal epidural metastases with spinal cord compression. Brain metastases were present in only 4 patients (1%). Nonmetastatic complications were more common than metastatic complications and were comprised of metabolic encephalopathies in 24 patients (7%), peripheral neuropathies in 9 patients (2.5%), cerebral infarctions in 6 patients (2%), and seizures in 5 patients (1%). No cases of neurologic infection or carcinomatous meningitis were reported.
The results demonstrate that neurologic complications are relatively uncommon in patients with bladder carcinoma and that local extension into peripheral nerves or bone, rather than hematogenous dissemination, is the most common cause of neurologic complications resulting from bladder carcinoma 1).
The occurrence of metastatic primary bladder cancer in the intramedullary spinal cord has been reported in the literature only once previously. Despite the lack of similar cases, the acute onset of Brown-Séquard syndrome was highly suggestive of a metastatic lesion 2).