Fatal systemic reaction after multiple doses of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin for polyposis

To report a case of fatal systemic reaction after intravesical administrations of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for polyposis.

A 72-year-old white man was treated by monthly injections of intravesical BCG immunotherapy for polyposis of the urinary bladder. He received a total of eight injections; four hours after the seventh injection, he presented with pyrexia associated with chills, sweating, headache, and vomiting, which quickly resolved. Four hours after the eighth injection, the patient presented with the same symptoms plus a left-hemisphere deficiency. Results of a cerebral scan performed at this time were normal. The clinical status of the patient quickly worsened, with the appearance of disseminated intravascular coagulation, acute anuric renal insufficiency, rhabdomyolysis, hemolysis, and cytolytic and cholestatic hepatitis. The patient required hemodialysis and symptomatic treatment. Lactic acidosis with hemolytic-uremic syndrome appeared, and he died as the result of a multivisceral (respiratory, renal, hepatic) deficiency.

The patient presented with symptoms compatible with a severe systemic reaction to BCG therapy, a rare but possible adverse effect.

BCG instillation is a valuable tool in the therapy of bladder carcinoma, but increasing reports of severe adverse reactions should continue to remind practicing urologists to be alert to the possibility of common and uncommon reactions after its use.