title: Five year follow-up of patients with cancer of the bladder--the Northern Alberta experience.
abstract: A prospective study of 549 cases of bladder cancer diagnosed in Northern Alberta from 1977 to 1980 shows that after 5 years, 51 patients (9.3%) were lost to follow-up, 318 (57.9%) were alive, and 180 (32.8%) were deceased, of which 98 had died of bladder cancer and 82 of other causes. Of the patients followed for 5 years, 386 had superficial disease at diagnosis. When comparing their survival rates to the expected rates for age/sex matched population, their relative survival rate at 5 years is 84.8% for females and 74.2% for males. For the 112 patients presenting with advanced disease the relative survival rate at 5 years was 32.2% for females and 19.3% for males. Five year recurrence-free interval in patients with superficial lesions was 57.3% when the original lesion was unifocal and 33.5% for patients with multifocal lesions. Survival was affected by stage, age, and sex in patients presenting with invasive disease and also by tumor type and recurrence rate in patients with superficial disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Oncology, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alberta.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: McPhee
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gaedke
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000416:Alberta; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology