(UroToday.com) The American Urological Association (AUA) 2025 Annual Meeting, held in Las Vegas, NV, between April 26th and 29th, 2025, was host to a non-invasive bladder cancer interactive poster session. Dr. Reuben Ben-David presented the results of a study evaluating the correlation between pre-cystectomy circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) status and oncologic outcomes in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients undergoing a radical cystectomy.
The objective of this study was to assess the utility of ctDNA in NMIBC for patients undergoing a radical cystectomy.
Patients who underwent a radical cystectomy for NMIBC had prospectively and longitudinally collected ctDNA analyses (SignateraTM) between 2021 and 2023. The ctDNA status was informed from the pre-cystectomy specimen. The minimal residual disease (MRD) window was defined as the initial 90 days after surgery. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method for patients with a follow-up period >3 months (n=42).
Overall, 49 patients underwent radical cystectomy for NMIBC. The median age was 67 years (IQR: 62–72), and the median follow-up was 13 months (IQR: 6–16).
Overall, ten patients (23.8%) had disease recurrence. Detectable pre-cystectomy ctDNA status was more commonly associated with:
- Upstaging to muscle-invasive disease
- ≥pT3 disease
- pN+ disease
- Disease recurrence
Patients with detectable pre-cystectomy ctDNA had worse RFS outcomes, compared to patients with undetectable ctDNA, with a median RFS of 10.8 months versus not reached, respectively.
Dr. Ben-David concluded that among NMIBC patients who undergo a radical cystectomy, those with detectable pre-cystectomy ctDNA levels had higher risks of pathological upstaging, nodal disease, and poor oncological outcomes, compared to those who were ctDNA-negative.
Presented by: Reuben Ben-David, MD, Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Written by: Rashid K. Sayyid, MD, MSc – Robotic Urologic Oncology Fellow at The University of Southern California, @rksayyid on Twitter during the 2025 American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting held in Las Vegas, NV, Saturday, April 26 - Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Related content: Pre-Cystectomy ctDNA Levels and Metastatic Recurrence in Bladder Cancer Patients - Reuben Ben-David