title: Intravesical instillation of beta-interferon in the treatment of bladder cancer.
abstract: A total of 36 patients with single superficial bladder cancer TNM stage Ta-T1/G2 was studied over a 24-month period before entering the study to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of high doses of beta-interferon (beta-INF); 24 patients had a primary tumour (group 1) and 12 had had more than 3 recurrences (group 2). They received 8 intravesical doses of beta-INF, 50,000,000 IU in 50 ml sterile water, at weekly intervals, 15 days after transurethral resection of the bladder (TURB). Efficacy was estimated by simple recurrence rate and by the person-years method. The recurrence rate was 25% in group 1 with a mean follow-up of 21.6 months. Comparison with the recurrence rate of a historical control group treated only by TUR showed that there was a slight statistically significant difference. Group 2 had a recurrence rate of 100% in the period before beta-INF (follow-up 24 months) and 91% after INF administration (mean follow-up 20.5 months). Patients were questioned about side effects before and after each treatment; tolerance of the drug was excellent. The results suggest that beta-interferon could be safely used as a prophylactic agent against the recurrence of primary superficial bladder cancer. Its efficacy seems comparable to that obtained with other current chemoprophylactic agents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Migliari
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: el Demiry
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Muscas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Usai
mesh_terms: D000283:Administration, Intravesical; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011184:Postoperative Period; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D016899:Interferon-beta