Department of Urology, Hirosaki University of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan.

To evaluate the effectiveness and side effects of prophylactic low-dose bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Tokyo 172 strain.

We conducted a historical cohort study to compare the clinical usefulness of standard-dose versus low-dose BCG Tokyo 172 strain. A total of 156 patients with superficial bladder cancer (Stage Ta-T1) were historically allocated to either 40 or 80 mg of BCG after transurethral resection. Of the 156 patients, 89 had received standard-dose (80 mg) BCG from 1988 to 2000 and 67 had received low-dose (40 mg) BCG from 1996 to 2005. BCG was instilled into the bladder once a week for 6 consecutive weeks. We excluded 6 patients who did not complete the BCG treatment course. The median follow-up period was 66.9 months (range 2 to 176).

Tumor recurrence developed in 21 (32.3%) of 65 patients in the 40-mg group and 29 (34.5%) of 85 patients in the 80-mg group. No significant difference was found in the incidence of tumor recurrence between the two groups (P = 0.6377). Tumor progression was found in 4 (6.2%) of 65 patients in 40-mg group and 9 (10.6%) of 85 patients in the 80-mg group. No significant difference was found in tumor progression between the two groups (P = 0.5010). The overall incidence of side effects and severity of pollakisuria were significantly lower in the 40-mg group than in the 80-mg group (P = 0.012 and P = 0.013, respectively).

The low-dose BCG Tokyo 172 strain achieved identical recurrence-free and progression-free survival as the standard dose with reduced toxicity.

Written by
Yoneyama T, Ohyama C, Imai A, Ishimura H, Hagisawa S, Iwabuchi I, Mori K, Kamimura N, Koie T, Yamato T, Suzuki T.

Reference
Urology. 2008 Feb 14. Epub ahead of print.
doi:10.1016/j.urology.2007.11.080

PubMed Abstract
PMID:18279920

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