[Value of adjuvant chemotherapy in infiltrating tumors of the bladder]

Abstract

Two populations of patients with invasive epithelial bladder carcinoma are considered. Group A includes 26 patients with P greater than or equal to 2 MO lesions who, prospectively, received adjuvant postoperative chemotherapy with methotrexate, adriamycin, 5 fluoro-uracil and cisplatinum. Group B includes 24 patients treated in the same institution but without chemotherapy. In group A, 6 patients died from distant metastases. One death was not related to disease progression. The 3-year-disease-free survival rate is 67.7%. Acceptability and tolerance of chemotherapy are satisfactory. In group B, a retrospective analysis after the same radiosurgical approach found in one patient a regional recurrence leading to death 5 years after diagnosis. Twenty patients died from distant metastases. The 3-year-disease-free survival rate is 18.5%. No treatment related deaths occurred in either group. Although biased selection in such conditions is inevitable, the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy looks rather impressive and encouraging.