Incidental sonographic detection of bladder cancer in a woman with large uterine fibroids: significance and lessons learned.

Uterine leiomyomas are the most common solid pelvic tumors in pre-menopausal women and typically present with abnormal uterine bleeding and/or symptoms of mass effect. A potential consequence of the space-occupying nature of these lesions is the decreased sensitivity for the detection of adjacent pelvic pathology, which can be particularly problematic given the overlap in symptoms between fibroids and other pelvic disease. We present the case of a woman with a large uterine fibroid who had multiple imaging evaluations before undergoing uterine fibroid embolization and on immediate follow-up sonography was discovered to have early-stage bladder cancer.