Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin and second primary malignancies

In an effort to answer the question, "Does intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy increase the incidence of second primary malignancies," the records of 153 patients treated with BCG for carcinoma in situ of the urinary bladder were reviewed. The weight of the available evidence suggests that intravesical BCG does not increase the incidence of second primary malignancies. While this question should be investigated, at the present time it appears that the advantage of intravesical BCG for high-risk patients with superficial bladder cancer outweighs the known disadvantages.