Prognostic factors in patients with stage pT0/pT1/pTa in the radical cystectomy specimen

To identify risk factors for progression in patients with invasive bladder carcinoma who were pT0/pT1/pTa after cystectomy.

We analyzed the clinical records of 97 post-cystectomy pT0/pT1/pTa patients for the following variables: hydronephrosis, carcinoma in situ (CIS), lymphovascular invasion, history of non-muscular invasive disease, residual tumor in the specimen and lymphatic invasion (pN). pN+patients were excluded from definitive analysis. The quantitative and qualitative variables were analyzed using standard statistics. The chi-square test was used to analyze associations between categorical variables. Univariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis (enter method) was performed. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to evaluate survival and the log-rank test to assess differences between groups. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 15.0.

The study sample included 97 cases. The specimen was staged at T2 in 97% of patients after transurethral resection (TUR); After cystectomy, the specimen was staged as pT0 (R0) in 44.3% and pT1/Ta (R1) in 55.7%. Median follow-up was 47 months. Lymph node metastasis were detected in 5.2% of patients (pN+rpar; and had a negative impact on survival (p=0.02). Overall survival was 59.8% and cancer-specific survival 76.6%. Univariate analysis showed a relationship between tumor progression and the presence of CIS (p < 0.001), lymphovascular invasion (p=0.049), and hydronephrosis(p < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, only the presence of CIS in the transurethral resection was associated with reduced cancer-specific survival (HR 100.5; 95% CI, 10.8 to 933.1; pp<0.001).

Although the prognosis of stage pT0/pT1/pTa carcinoma in the cystectomy specimen is excellent, some patients experience progression. The presence of CIS in the transurethral resection was an independent predictor of recurrence in these cases.