Intracavitary therapy of noninvasive transitional cell carcinomas of the upper urinary tract. A review of the literature.
Noninvasive (stages Ta, T1, Tis) transitional cell carcinomas of the upper urinary tract are suitable for a conservative therapeutic approach. Intracavitary therapy (alone or as adjuvant treatment) has recently been proposed and successfully used by some authors. Even though bacillus Calmette-Guérin is the most frequent agent employed, chemotherapeutic drugs, such as mitomycin C and thiotepa, have also been successfully used. The current information available in the literature is therefore reviewed. According to the data available, intracavitary therapy is a worthwhile conservative therapeutic option for noninvasive upper urinary tract urotheliomas with acceptable side effects. For this reason it may be included in the routine urological armamentarium.
Bassi
P
P
Department of Urology, University of Padua Medical School, Via Giustiniani, 2, I-35128 Padua, Italy. bassipf@unipd.it
Iafrate
M
M
Longo
F
F
Iannello
A
A
Mostaccio
G
G
Ingrassia
A
A
Repele
M
M
Tavolini
I M
IM
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D014516:Ureteral Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D001500:BCG Vaccine