[Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy for superficial bladder cancer]

Intracavitary instillation of Tokyo 172 strain Bacillas Calmette-Guerin was performed on 39 patients with superficial bladder cancer after contact Nd:YAG laser irradiation for tumors. The BCG group received intravesical instillation of 80 mg BCG at two week intervals for 6 months. Recurrence occurred in 7 of the 39 patients. In the 7 recurrent cases instillation of BCG had been discontinued after 2-7 instillations due to bladder irritation, with recurrence seen 6-27 months later. The non-recurrence rate in the group (27 cases) instilled BCG more than seven times was 94.0%. The non-recurrence rate in this group was significantly higher than that in the group (12 cases) with less than six BCG instillations. The non-recurrence rate in the group (26 cases) without BCG therapy was not significantly different from that in the group (12 cases) with less than six BCG instillations. Our findings suggested that frequent (more than seven times) instillation of BCG increased the non-recurrence rate, and that less than six BCG instillations is not significantly effective for preventing the recurrence of superficial bladder cancer.