Prediction of survival and recurrence in bladder carcinoma

We have followed a large population of patients receiving radiation treatment for bladder carcinoma with respect to survival and recurrence-free survival. Bivariate and multivariate life table analyses have been performed using a set of independent variables. The most important were T class, grade (G), urinary carcinoembryonic antigen (U-CEA) taken before treatment and cytological analysis 4 months after treatment. We compared the usual way of classifying a patient (T + G) with the combination of U-CEA and cytology since the latter two variables seemed to have great prognostic importance. The analyses show that T + G gives the best significance for survival (p = 0.0003) while U-CEA and cytology is better for recurrence-free survival (rho = 0.0002). 0.0002).