The response of patients with superficial bladder cancer to a second course of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin.
Of 347 patients who received an initial 6-week course of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin for superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder 28 (8%) were treated with another course. Subsequent progression of disease (muscle infiltration, metastasis or local progression) occurred in 13 patients (46%). Of the 15 patients (54%) without progression 10 (36%) had a complete response and 5 (33%) had new tumors, and they were rendered free of disease after transurethral resection. The median duration of response to course 1 of bacillus Calmette-Guerin was shorter for patients with disease progression after course 2 than for those with no progression (15 and 27 months, respectively, p equals 0.05). The median followup after course 2 was 31.2 months (range 15.6 to 56.4 months). The median interval between courses 1 and 2 of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin was 21.6 months (range 3.6 to 78.8 months). The interval from course 2 of bacillus Calmette-Guerin to progression correlated with the duration of response to course 1 of treatment (p equals 0.01). It appears that a subsequent treatment with bacillus Calmette-Guerin is most likely to be useful in patients who have a sustained response to the initial treatment.
Bretton
P R
PR
Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
Herr
H W
HW
Kimmel
M
M
Whitmore
W F
WF
Laudone
V
V
Oettgen
H F
HF
Fair
W R
WR
D000283:Administration, Intravesical; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*
D001500:BCG Vaccine