Encrusted Cystitis Secondary to Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum in a 57-Year-Old Man Without Predisposing Factors

Abstract

Encrusted cystitis is a rare condition characterized by encrustation of the bladder mucosa with associated chronic inflammation induced by urea-splitting bacterial infection--most commonly, Corynebacterium urealyticum. Moreover, it usually occurs in immunocompromised patients, especially recipients of renal transplants or patients with a history of previous urological procedures. Due to the rarity of the entity and the slow growth of Corynebacterium species, appropriate treatment is often delayed due to difficulties in diagnosis and resistance to numerous antibiotics. We report a case of encrusted cystitis caused by Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum, another urea-splitting microbe, in a 57-year-old previously healthy Caucasian man with no known predisposing factors. The timely diagnosis and management in this otherwise healthy patient was facilitated by characteristic imaging, cystoscopy, and histologic findings confirmed by results of prolonged urine cultures and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing of the microbe.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum; cystoscopy; encrusted cystitis; sequencing; urea-splitting bacterial infection.