Clinical Utility of Postneoadjuvant Chemotherapy Computerized Tomography for Muscle Invasive Urothelial Bladder...

For muscle invasive bladder cancer, computerized tomography scans are often used before cystectomy to optimize surgical decision planning. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical value of postneoadjuvant chemotherapy computerized tomography in patients with localized bladder cancer before cystectomy.

All T2-3N0 patients with urothelial bladder cancer who completed cisplatin based neoadjuvant chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. On postneoadjuvant chemotherapy computerized tomography patients with tumor progression, nodal involvement, metastatic disease and noncancer findings were determined, and subsequent surgical decision making was evaluated.

Of 79 cases 21.5% had a new finding on postneoadjuvant chemotherapy scan of which false-positive rates for nodal and metastatic disease were 100%. The frequency of novel findings on postneoadjuvant computerized tomography were 4 (5.1%) with tumor progression, 6 (7.6%) newly discovered enlarged nodes, 8 (10.1%) suspicious for distant metastases and 3 (3.8%) noncancer related conditions. Only 3.8% (3) had alterations in original cystectomy plans exclusively due to tumor progression and 100% of the cohort underwent cystectomy. Overall survival was not associated with new findings (3-year OS 77.4% vs 74%, p=0.473). Median time from postneoadjuvant chemotherapy scan to cystectomy was statistically delayed for patients with new radiographic findings vs those with consistent preneoadjuvant chemotherapy scans (29.5 vs 51 days; p=0.014).

Compared to the preneoadjuvant chemotherapy scans, our data suggests that postneoadjuvant chemotherapy computerized tomography scans discover new findings in approximately 21.5% of cases, but this rarely changes preoperative plans, is not associated with overall survival and is frequently associated with false-positive results.