Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma with Peritoneal Involvement: Benefit of Continuous Maintenance Chemotherapy

We investigated bladder urothelial carcinoma with peritoneal involvement.

Inclusion criteria were: pathology-confirmed urothelial carcinoma; peritoneal spread identified on computed tomographic (CT) scans performed initially or after either cystectomy or concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), and absence of visceral metastases; and chemotherapy administered after peritoneal spread was diagnosed.

Forty-seven cases included initial modes of therapy with chemotherapy in 24 patients (51%), cystectomy in 17 (36%), and CCRT in six (13%), only given as a result of under-staging. After local therapy, these patients received a continuous maintenance chemotherapy regimen of 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, cisplatin, and gemcitabine. The overall response rate was 85%, and the side-effects were mild and tolerated. The median survival time was 28 months. The survival time of cases initially treated only with chemotherapy was not statistically different to that of those with local disease.

Bladder urothelial carcinomas with peritoneal involvement can benefit from continuous maintenance chemotherapy.