Are voiding symptoms associated with the survival outcome of primary female urethral cancer?

Abstract

Primary female urethral cancer (PFUC) is a rare urologic malignancy. Some patients who primarily presented with voiding symptoms experienced delayed investigation due to a lack of awareness. Therefore, this retrospective study aimed to compare the clinical information, treatment, and survival outcomes of PFUC between patients who initially presented with voiding symptoms and those with other symptoms. We retrospectively reviewed 13 PFUC patients who were treated at our hospital between January 2010 and December 2023. The overall 2-year survival rate was 55.4%. Factors including high-risk tumor, R1 resection, adenocarcinoma pathology, and nodal metastasis showed statistically significant differences between survival curves. The 2-year survival rates for patients with voiding symptoms and other symptoms were 34.3% and 80%, respectively. Although the overall survival rates between the two groups were not significantly different, PFUC patients with voiding symptoms demonstrated characteristics of advanced disease, including larger tumor size and nodal metastasis.