Clinicopathological evaluation of repeated courses of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin instillation for preventing recurrence of initially resistant superficial bladder cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The efficacy of repeated courses of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) for superficial bladder cancer was assessed with particular attention to initially resistant cases.


METHODS
A total of 75 patients with stages Ta to T1b superficial transitional cell bladder carcinoma received 6 weekly instillations of 80 mg. Tokyo strain BCG in 40 ml. saline followed by 6 instillations at monthly intervals. If tumors recurred, another course of treatment was given with surgery.


RESULTS
Of 17 patients (22.7%) with recurrent tumor at followup periods of up to 84 months 12 received an additional course of BCG instillations according to the same protocol after transurethral resection of bladder tumors, and 10 (83.3%) showed no further recurrence with or without additional surgery and BCG therapy after a median followup of 42.9 months. Thus, the overall success rate with this approach was 90.7% (68 of 75 patients). Comparison of patients with and without recurrence revealed a significant difference in number of tumors before therapy (p < 0.05), and a pronounced tendency (p = 0.00507) for recurrence after prior systemic chemotherapy or intravesical instillation.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that up to 3 courses of repeated intravesical instillation of BCG are effective even for cases that initially did not respond, and that best results may be achieved if no other prior chemotherapy has been attempted.
Okamura
T
T
Department of Urology, Nagoya City University Medical School, Anjo, Japan.
Tozawa
K
K
Yamada
Y
Y
Sakagami
H
H
Ueda
K
K
Kohri
K
K
D000283:Administration, Intravesical; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000601:surgery; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000601:surgery
D001500:BCG Vaccine