[Interest of reTURB for pTa high grade bladder urothelial carcinoma]

Second look TURB (Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor) is recommended for high-risk pT1 tumors. It is well acquired for tumors classified pT1 high grade but its interest is still discussed for high-grade pTa tumors in the absence of high level of evidence. We evaluated the impact of second-look resection for the high-grade pTa bladder tumor.

We performed a retrospective study in 2 centers from 2007 to 2016. We included all urothelial tumors classified pTa high grade. We studied the anatomopathological findings of reTURB and its consequences on survival without recurrence and progression.

Eighty-four patients were included. Thirty-five patients (41.7%) had reTURB and residual tumor was found in 42.9% of cases. The anatomopathology of reTURB was in 20% of cases high grade pTa, in 14.3% of cases pTis, and in 8.6% of cases pT1. Forty-three patients had recurrence, 13 reTURB patients (30.2%). In the patients who had a reTURB, 12 had recurrence (34.3%) against 31 without reTURB, (63.3%). After the first TURB, 45 patients (53.6%) had bladder instillation: 38 received BCG (45.2%) and 7 ametycin (8.3%). The main factor decreasing recurrence was BCG adjuvant therapy (HR=0.4 [0.2-0.9], P=0.02). The absence of reRTUV appeared to be a recurrence factor, but the result was not statistically significant (HR=1.4 [0.7-3], P=0.3).

reTURB confirms that residual tumor is often found. His interest in survival without recurrence remains to be proved by a prospective study with a larger number of patients.

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