[The combined treatment of bladder cancer]

The paper presented the results of the combined multistage treatment of 60 patients with advanced carcinoma of the urinary bladder: intra-arterial chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. Intra-arterial chemotherapy was performed in total dosages of the following drugs: 5-fluorouracil, 3-4 g/m2, adriamycin, 100-120 mg/m2, methotrexate, 20-40 mg/m2, platidiam, 30-50 mg/m2. Immunotherapy was exercised through endolymphatic administration of BCG vaccine in a dose of 0.08-0.12 mg. The majority of the patients were exposed to a remote gamma-therapy in a total focal dosage of 50-54 gram-roentgen. The treatment resulted in a complete regression of the tumor in 26.7, partial regression in 43.3 per cent of the patients. 3-6 mos after the radiation therapy, 46.6 per cent of the patients were operated on, mainly with the use of organ-sparing techniques. A three-year survival rate reached 100 per cent in the patients with stage T2 disease, 85.2 in those with T3a and 58.6 per cent in those with stages T3b--T4. The analysis of the survival revealed higher mortality rates in patients with low-differentiated tumors.