[FACTORS PREDICTING OVERALL AND DISEASE-FREE SURVIVAL AFTER SURGERY FOR INVASIVE BLADDER CANCER]

To evaluate the prognosis of patients who underwent surgery for invasive bladder cancer and to search for prognostic factors.

The files of all the patients who underwent radical or partial cystectomy for invasive bladder cancer between 1992 and 2014 were reviewed. The effect of various prognostic factors was evaluated by uni- and multivariate analyses.

A total of 160 patients were included in the study and were followed for a median period of 25.5 months after surgery. The overall 2 years and 5 years survival rates were 70% and 61.2% respectively. The disease-free 2 years and 5 years survival rates were 64.4% and 61.9% respectively. The overall 2 years and 5 years survival rates of patients with disease limited to the bladder (≥T2N0) were 88.2% and 82.4% and of patients with disease extending beyond the bladder (≤T3N0) 56.5% and 45.7% respectively. Factors that were found to be significantly associated with overall survival were: TNM stage, co-morbidity (Charlson 6-11) and the tumor's diameter. No association was found between: disease presentation, smoking habits, positive cytology, the tumor being primary or secondary, variant histology, the presence of endophytic growth pattern, the presence of CIS, hydronephrosis, positive lymph nodes on pre-operative imaging, surgery type (radical or partial cystectomy) and adjuvant chemotherapy.

The survival rates of the locally treated patients match the reported rates in the literature. Tumors' T stage were found to be the strongest prognostic factor. Tumors' diameter was found to be an independent prognostic factor. This is reported here for the first time in the literature.