When to Avoid a Restaging Procedure for Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer? Inferences from a Tertiary Care Center

The increasing incidence of urinary bladder carcinoma is alarming. Approximately seventy percent of these patients are non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Restage transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) is the current recommendation for any T1 and or high-grade non muscle invasive bladder cancers (NMIBC) to accurately stage the malignancy. The question whether a second surgery is always required as a restage procedure is still unanswered. The patient's concern about completeness, morbidity, and financial considerations of a major surgery cannot be overlooked. Moreover, it also puts a strain on the already overburdened healthcare system. To answer this question, whether it is oncologically sound to omit a second resection, the current study evaluated the outcomes of patients undergoing restage TURBT, and analyzed the preoperative factors predicting a change in the staging of this malignancy. The study design was a prospective observational including NMIBC patients from September 2018 to February 2020. A total of 72 patients underwent restage TURBT. Their demographic data, imaging and cystoscopic findings, and histopathological data were recorded. The objective was to study the clinico-pathological correlations and factors predicting recurrence and upstaging of tumor in NMIBC patients undergoing restage TURBT. A total of 101 patients were found eligible for restage TURBT. Eventually, 72 underwent restage TURBT. Twelve (16.7%) patient had recurrence at restage while 3(4.16%) were upstaged to T2. Presence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) was independently associated with the risk of recurrence of same stage compared to no recurrence (p-0.025, OR-8.793, 95% CI-1.316-98.773). Chemical exposure (p-0.042) was also significantly associated with the same. Presence of lymphadenopathy on CT was independently associated with the risk of upstaging compared to no recurrence (p-0.032, OR-18.25, 95% CI-1.292-257.85). The study concluded that in the presence of a well-performed and adequate initial TURBT, restage TURBT could be skipped for further management. However, in small subgroup of patients with lymphadenopathy on preoperative imaging having a higher risk of tumor recurrence and upstaging, and patients with a history of chemical exposure and previous lower urinary tract symptoms having a high risk of recurrence alone, restage TURBT should still be performed to accurately stage the disease. Further studies with large patient cohort are needed to confirm and reinforce the facts proposed.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13193-022-01516-8.