Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the urinary bladder

We report the cases of 11 patients who were treated for undifferentiated carcinoma of the urinary bladder with a prominent lymphoid stroma (lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma [LELC]). The chief complaint of all 11 patients was hematuria. Their ages ranged from 52 to 79 years (mean of 67). All tumors except one invaded the muscle wall and showed the typical syncytial growth pattern of undifferentiated cells with ill-defined cytoplasmic borders, prominent nucleoli, and numerous mitoses. A significant lymphocytic reaction was an essential component of all these tumors. There were three pure LELC tumors without concurrent invasive transitional-cell carcinoma (TCC) or TCC in situ; these cases morphologically simulated large-cell lymphoma. The remainder were mixed TCC and LELC (five predominant and three focal LELC)