Transarterial infusion of cisplatin and doxorubicin in bladder cancer

Forty-five patients (median age 63 years) with muscle invasive bladder cancer were treated with transcatheter intraarterial infusion (TAI) of cisplatin (CDDP) and doxorubicin. They received a total of 114 courses (median 3 courses per patient) of TAI. Complete response was obtained in 20 patients (44%), partial response in 17 (38%), stable disease in 6(13%), and progression of disease in 2 patients (5%). The overall response rate was 82% at a median follow-up of 36 months. The actuarial survival of the patient population was 72% at 5 years; 36 patients were alive and 9 had died of cancer progression. The treatment was generally extremely well tolerated without major complications. The current study also revealed the fact that papillary carcinomas were more sensitive to this therapy than were non-papillary tumors. Overall, response rate and local control were significantly higher in low-grade than in high-grade tumors. The observed high complete response and good survival rate suggest that intraarterial CDDP and doxorubicin might be highly effective for localized invasive bladder cancer.