The Effect of Tri-Modality Therapy with Bladder Preservation for Selective Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of complete transurethral resection of bladder tumor combined with postoperative chemoradiotherapy and radical cystectomy (RC) in the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Methods: This is a single-center, retrospective study. Clinical data of 125 patients with MIBC admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from December 2012 to December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed, in which 79 patients (tri-modality therapy [TMT] group) received TMT bladder-sparing treatment, and 41 patients (RC group) received RC. The differences of probabilities for 1-year, 2-year, 5-year, and comprehensive overall survival (OS), progress-free survival (PFS) between 2 groups were calculated using Kaplan-Meier product limited estimates. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to detect potential risk factors for OS and PFS. Results: There was no statistical difference between the TMT group and RC group in the 1-year, 2-year, 5-year, comprehensive OS rate, and PFS rate. And survival analysis found no significant difference in OS and PFS between the 2 groups. Univariate analysis showed that age, TNM staging, and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) were associated with OS, while PNI was connected to tumor recurrence. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that TNM staging and PNI were independent risk factors for OS. Conclusions: TMT can be used as an alternative to RC for MIBC patients under the premise of strict control of indications, rigorous postoperative follow-up, and timely salvage cystectomy. PNI was negatively correlated with OS and PFS, while TNM staging was positively correlated with OS.