[The effect of intravesical chemotherapy on superficial urinary bladder cancer]

The effect of intravesical chemotherapy on superficial urinary bladder cancer was analysed. Fifty-nine patients with low-staged, low-grade bladder cancer were treated with intravesical instillation of three anticancer drugs (adriamycin, carbazilquinone and bleomycin). Complete response (CR) was observed in 15 out of 42 patients and partial response (PR) in 9 patients. Overall, a better response rate was observed with adriamycin and carbazilquinone than with bleomycin. Papillary tumors responded well to these intravesical chemotherapies compared to the non-papillary tumors . Intravesical recurrence of tumors was evaluated in 68 patients who received intravesical instillation of these three drugs after TUR of tumors. The actuarial recurrence rate of 68 patients was 11, 22 and 34% within 1, 2 and 3 years, respectively. These rates were significantly lower than that of TUR therapy alone. No serious side effect was seen in these patients. From these results, it is noted that intravesical chemotherapy is a useful approach for controlling superficial urinary bladder cancer.