Intra-arterial chemotherapy combined with intravesical chemotherapy compared with intravesical BCG immunotherapy retrospectively in high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer after transurethral resection of the bladder tumor.

To compare the efficacy and safety of intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) combined with intravesical chemotherapy (IVC) against intravesical BCG immunotherapy in high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) after transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT).

130 patients with high-risk NMIBC who had underwent TURBT were divided into two groups, of which IAC + IVC group received four courses of IAC (cisplatin and epirubicin) combined with IVC (epirubicin or pirarubicin) after surgery and BCG group received intravesical BCG immunotherapy. Recurrence rate and progression rate were assessed by Chi-square test, while recurrence-free survival and progression-free survival were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

In this study, the recurrence rate was 27.9% (12/43) in IAC + IVC group and 26.4% (14/53) in BCG group, while progression rate was 9.3% (4/43) in IAC + IVC group and 9.4% (5/53) in BCG group. Both of the recurrence and progression rate did not show a significant difference. In the Kaplan-Meier plot, no difference was found with respect to recurrence-free survival and progression-free survival. Moreover, 46.5% (20/43) patients suffered from adverse events of IAC and 83.1% (49/59) patients suffered from adverse events associated with BCG, of which 6 patients discontinued treatment due to serious adverse events of BCG. Univariate analysis suggested that only recurrent tumor could be an independent risk factor related to recurrence.

IAC combined with IVC used in high-risk NMIBC could reduce the recurrence and progression as effective as BCG instillation with lower adverse events.

Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology. 2020 Nov 22 [Epub ahead of print]

Bin Huang, Gaowei Huang, Wenji Li, Lingwu Chen, Xiaopeng Mao, Junxing Chen

Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 58 Zhong Shan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China., Surgical Anesthesia Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 58 Zhong Shan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China., Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 58 Zhong Shan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China. ., Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 58 Zhong Shan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China. ., Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 58 Zhong Shan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China. .