Urinary Bladder Leiomyomas

Leiomyomas (LMs) represent the most frequent mesenchymal tumors of the urinary bladder. Despite their relative frequency, large clinicopathological studies are scarce, and their pathogenesis remains poorly understood. In this study, we performed a clinicopathological analysis of 35 bladder LMs and explored whether they share pathogenic mechanisms previously documented in uterine LMs. The tumors occurred in 18 women and 17 men, with a median age of 55 years (range: 20 to 78 y). Clinical data were available for 30 cases (85%). Most tumors were incidentally discovered (16/30, 53%), while the remaining patients presented predominantly with lower urinary tract symptoms. Ten patients had a prior history of cancer, and 3 women had a history of uterine LM. Tumor size, available in 12 cases, ranged from 6 to 66 mm (mean, 31 mm). Histologically, most tumors showed a uniform morphology, consisting of well-circumscribed nodules composed of bland smooth muscle cells without mitotic activity. Rare findings included extensive necrosis (3/35, 8%) and a pseudohyperplastic appearance (1/20, 5%). On immunohistochemistry, a subset of tumors, predominantly in females, expressed estrogen receptors (7/28, 25%), progesterone receptors (5/24, 21%), and androgen receptors (10/23, 43%). HMGA2 expression was observed in one case (1/27, 4%). Fumarate hydratase (FH) expression was retained in all tested tumors (n=31); 2SC expression was detected in 4 tumors (4/32; 12%), all with preserved FH and lacking distinctive histomorphological features of FH-deficient LMs. DNA sequencing of 2SC-positive tumors identified a pathogenic FH variant in one of the 4 analyzed cases at a low variant allele frequency. No other known pathogenic variants, including MED12 commonly seen in uterine LMs, were detected. Altogether, this study characterizes the clinicopathological features of large cohort of bladder LMs, highlighting unrecognized morphologic features, including cases with massive necrosis. Our findings suggest that bladder LMs differ pathogenetically from their uterine counterparts, with a more limited role for hormone receptor signaling and distinct genetic alterations.