[Instillation therapies for urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract]

Traditionally, urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract was a clear indication for radical nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff excision. It has been shown that in well-selected patients and depending on tumor stage, a kidney-sparing approach can be pursued with good oncological outcome and equivalent to the radical approach. The prevention of local and bladder recurrences is an important factor. Instillation therapies with bacillus Calmette-Guérin and/or mitomycin C have been successfully used to this end. Due to the low incidence of upper tract urothelial cancer and due to the usually retrospective nature of existing literature, however, data is limited. In this article, we provide a review of the indication, technical execution and results of instillation therapies of the upper urinary tract.