Quality of life and adverse events in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer receiving adjuvant treatment with BCG, MMC, or chemohyperthermia.

Chemohyperthermia (CHT) with mitomycin C (MMC) is together with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), and passive MMC, a treatment option for patients with non muscle-invasive bladder cancer. There are no data published about the impact of CHT in quality of life (QoL). We evaluated QoL and adverse events (AE) in this 3-arm observational study.

Prospective observational study from September 2016 to March 2017, we recruited consecutive patients that received adjuvant treatment after transurethral resection of bladder tumor. Patients received induction courses of either BCG, CHT, or passive MMC. Patients filled the questionnaires Functional assessment of cancer therapy for bladder cancer patients (FACT-Bl) and International prostate symptom score (IPSS) before, during, and after the induction course. A urologist documented AE using Common Terminology Criteria for AE (CTCAE criteria).

A total of 56 patients, receiving a total of 296 bladder instillations (BCG n = 27, CHT n = 14 and MMC n = 15). FACT-Bl showed statistically significant differences in the fourth week in favor of CHT versus BCG, IPSS did not show statistically significant differences before, during, and after induction course in all 3 arms. All patients recovered their baseline QoL at the end of the induction treatment. Overall 55.5%, 50% and 20% of patients presented any grade of AE in the BCG, CHT and MMC groups respectively. About 7% of patients in BCG and CHT arms had to discontinue treatment due to AE. BCG and CHT showed a similar rate of AE but in CHT were mostly grade I and BCG had grade I, II, and IV. Passive MMC had the safest profile.

There are no clinically significant differences between BCG, CHT, and passive MMC regarding QoL and lower urinary tract symptoms during the induction course. CHT has a more favorable AE profile when compared with BCG.

Urologic oncology. 2020 Aug 01 [Epub ahead of print]

Daniel A González-Padilla, Alejandro González-Díaz, Félix Guerrero-Ramos, Andrea Rodríguez-Serrano, Eva García-Jarabo, Magdalena Corona-laPuerta, Alfredo Rodríguez-Antolín, Felipe Villacampa-Aubá

Department of Urology, University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: ., Department of Urology, University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain., Department of Urology, University Hospital La Paz, Madrid, Spain., Department of Traumatology, University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain., University Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain., Department of Urology, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Madrid, Spain.