Partial Cystectomy after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Contemporary Experience

Objective. To report our contemporary experience with partial cystectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and Methods. Retrospective review of patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and partial cystectomy for urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 1995 to 2013. Log-rank test and Cox regression models were used to analyze variables possibly associated with recurrence-free, advanced recurrence-free (free from recurrence beyond salvage with intravesical therapy or radical cystectomy), and overall survival. Results. All 36 patients had a solitary tumor <5 cm in size. Twenty-one patients (58%) achieved cT0 following neoadjuvant chemotherapy with 7 (33%) having residual disease at PC. At last follow-up, 19 (53%) patients had recurrence, 15 (42%) had advanced recurrence, 10 (28%) died of disease, and 22 (61%) maintained an intact bladder. Median follow-up of those who were with no evidence of disease was 17 months. On univariable analysis, after neoadjuvant chemotherapy positive nodes on imaging and positive surgical margin at partial cystectomy were both associated with worse recurrence-free, advanced recurrence-free, and overall survival. Five-year recurrence-free, advanced recurrence-free, and overall survival were 28%, 51%, and 63%, respectively. Conclusion. Partial cystectomy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy provides acceptable oncologic outcomes in highly selected patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.