Urethral ‘recurrence’ found 14 years after radical cystectomy

We report a case of transitional cell urethral cancer diagnosed 14 years after radical cystectomy. Traditionally, in the postcystectomy setting, these cancers have been referred to as ‘recurrences’. We review the biological models for the oncogenesis of these cancers and propose that they are typically a result of a field cancerization effect, rather than being derived from the same clone responsible for the original urothelial tumor.