Elective bladder preservation with multimodality treatment for bladder cancer

To observe the outcome of maximal transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) followed by induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy in medically inoperable patients with bladder cancer.

This study included 30 patients with stage T 2-4 bladder cancer. The patients were first treated with TURBT, and then received 2 cycles of induction chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin, followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy with gemcitabine.

Median follow up was 28.9 months. Radiologically, complete and partial response rates were 60 and 36.7%, while cystoscopically they were 40 and 30%, respectively. Local progression (4 cases) and distant metastasis (11 cases) were noted. Median overall survival and progressionfree survival were 32 and 21 months, respectively. One -and 2-year overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 97.60% and 83.49%, respectively.

The multimodal treatment performed in this study was well tolerated and achieved a high rate of bladder preservation in selected patients with bladder cancer.