Phase II study of intravesical chemoprophylaxis of epirubicin after transurethral resection of bladder tumors. Tottori University Oncology Group.

We performed intravesical instillation of epirubicin in 53 patients with the aim of preventing recurrence of bladder tumors. The patients had undergone transurethral resection of superficial bladder tumors (only transitional-cell carcinoma) within the preceding week, between January of 1990 and July of 1991. Recurrence was found in 11.3% (6/53) of cases during follow-up periods lasting from 1 to 20 months. Side effects occurred in 5.7% (3/53) of the patients. The cumulative nonrecurrence rate was 96.0% for a follow-up period of 6 months and 78.4% for 12 months. The results of this study suggest that intravesical instillation of epirubicin is very useful as adjuvant therapy after transurethral resection of superficial bladder tumors.