Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov 4;14(6):5068-5070.
doi: 10.22037/uj.v14i6.3781.

Availability and Patterns of Intravesical BCG Instillations

S Awomir Poletajew  1 , Aleksandra Majek  2 , Piotr Magusiak  2 , Katarzyna Ledzikowska  2 , Bartosz Dybowski  2 , Piotr Radziszewski  2
Affiliations
Free article

Availability and Patterns of Intravesical BCG Instillations

S Awomir Poletajew et al. Urol J. .
Free article

Abstract

Purpose: Intravesical BCG instillations improve recurrence free survival in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Methods: This is a national survey study, covering 223 urological centres, aimed at reliable identification of BCG availability and implemented treatment patterns.

Results: Response rate was 93.7%. BCG was used in 56.5% of urological departments. Another 22.7% referred patients to other hospitals for instillations, while 20.8% did not recommend BCG at all. The most common indications for BCG instillations were as follows: T1 tumours (88.5%), carcinoma in situ (83.6%) and high grade tumours (73.8%). Maintenance therapy was routinely abandoned in 16.4% of centres or was scheduled for <1 year, 1 year, 3 years and 1-3 years in 6.6%, 19.7%, 21.3% and 31.2% of centres, respectively. Continuation of BCGdespite treatment failure in carcinoma in situ cases was considered in 21.3% of departments.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that BCG is underused, while patterns of maintenance and follow-up are suboptimal.

PubMed Disclaimer

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources