[Urothelial carcinoma in patients under 40 years. Review of the cancer committee of the French Association of Urology].

Introduction: Urothelial carcinoma in young patients (<40 years) is rare. The only known risk factor is exposure to tobacco smoking and/or early active tobacco intoxication. No genetic predisposing factor seems to exist.

Material And Methods: A review of the literature was performed using PubMed database with a combination of the following keywords: urothelial carcinoma, young patients/adults, children, pediatrics, urothelium and neoplasm prognosis.

Discussion: Urothelial carcinomas before the age of 20 years are non-invasive papillary lesions (papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential and non-invasive papillary urothelial carcinoma low grade or high grade) of excellent prognosis. Rare cases of infiltrating carcinomas have been described between 20 to 40 years; their histological and clinical aspects are close to those observed in usual urothelial carcinomas.

Conclusion: The management of urothelial carcinomas of patients under 40 years relies on the tumor grade and stage. Treatment of aggressive cases has to be curative from a clinical point of view, nevertheless conserving vital and reproducing functions.