Survival outcomes of non-definitive therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer

To analyze the risks and survival outcomes of non-definitive therapy (nDT) for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), which may provide useful information for future treatment selection, the present study analyzed 124 patients who were diagnosed with MIBC (cT2-4aN1-2M0) and treated at Kurume University Hospital (Kurume, Japan) with definitive therapy (DT; including radical cystectomy and trimodal therapy) or nDT [transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) monotherapy or TURBT plus chemotherapy]. Differences in survival outcomes between the two groups were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and analyzed using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for multivariate analysis of each survival outcome. Of the 124 patients, 45% were treated with nDT, and among these, 50% were treated with TURBT monotherapy and 50% were treated with TURBT plus chemotherapy. Of the patients who chose definitive treatment, 69% were treated with radical cystectomy. The median age in the nDT group was 77 years, which was significantly higher than that in the DT group. Additionally, the proportion of patients with poor performance status, high Charlson comorbidity index and high neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio values was significantly higher in the nDT group. nDT was associated with significantly reduced overall survival, cancer-specific survival and progression-free survival rates, and was a poor prognostic factor for all survival outcomes compared with DT. In conclusion, nDT was associated with a high cancer-related mortality risk. The most appropriate treatment method should be discussed with the patients after providing them with sufficient information on the risks and benefits of each treatment method.