Intravesical bacillus calmette guerin therapy for intermediate and high risk stages TA and T1 superficial bladder cancer

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to prospectively examine the incidence of complete response, recurrence and progression in patients with superficial transitional cell carcinoma [TCC] after complete transurethral resection of bladder tumour [TUR-BT] and adjuvant intravesical Bacillus Calmette Guerin [BCG] instillation. patients with Ta, Tl either grade 2 or 3 superficial bladder carcinoma were included in this study. Complete TUR-BT was done, followed by intravesical BCG instillation. The instillation schedule was 6 weekly instillation of 80 mg BCG followed by 3 weekly instillation at months 3,6,12,18,24,30 and 36. There was a total of 116 studied patients, in the period between July 1994 and December 1997. 48 patients had TaG2, 24 TaG3, 26 T1G2, and 18 T1G3. Complete response was observed in 96 patients [83%], recurrence inl3 [11%] and progession in 7 [6%]. In patients with intermediate and high grades Ta or Tl superficial bladder tumours, immunotherapy with intravesical BCG following TUR-BT appears to provide significant advantage over TUR-BT alone in delaying tumour recurrence and progression