[Radical cystectomy in the treatment of bladder cancer always in due time?]

Survival after radical cystectomy: Progressive versus De novo muscle invasive bladder cancer

BACKGROUND

Despite treatment with radical cystectomy, patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) have a poor survival. It has been reported that survival is worse in NMIBC patients who progressed to MIBC in comparison to patients with de novo MIBC. The objective of this study was to compare survival of progressive versus de novo MIBC. Secondary objective was to explain this difference in survival by clinicopathological factors.

METHODS

431 patients with MIBC who underwent radical cystectomy between 1998 and 2016 in the Radboudumc, Nijmegen, were retrospectively analyzed. 313 patients were identified with de novo MIBC and 118 with progressive MIBC.

RESULTS

5- and 10-year overall survival (OS) of patients with progressive MIBC was 37% and 20%, respectively. Patients with de novo MIBC had significantly better survival, with a 5- and 10-year OS of 49% and 39%, respectively. Patients with progressive MIBC were more frequently diagnosed with concomitant carcinoma in situ and positive surgical margins in bladder, ureters or urethra. In multivariable analysis that adjusted for these factors, progressive MIBC was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.40 (0.99 - 1.98). Kaplan-Meier survival curves show a detrimental effect of progressive MIBC in patients with pT2 versus pT3-4 tumors and in patients with negative versus positive surgical margins. In multivariable analysis, this effect modification disappeared.

CONCLUSIONS

Progressive MIBC is associated with poorer survival than de novo MIBC. Because most patients with progressive MIBC had a history of high risk NMIBC, considering radical cystectomy is most important in the highest risk NMIBC.

Comparison of the prognosis of primary and progressive muscle-invasive bladder cancer after radical cystectomy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to systematically review the relevant studies to evaluate the prognosis of primary and progressive muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) after radical cystectomy (RC) and provide a clue for the timing of RC in patients with progressive MIBC early at the time of high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched for eligible studies. We extracted hazard ratios (HRs) of overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) and deaths at 5 and 10 years for each study and performed the meta-analysis using Review Manager 5.3.

RESULTS

A total of 11 retrospective studies with 4102 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled analysis suggested a similar CSS (HR: 1.18; 95% CI, 0.74, 1.87; p = 0.50) and OS (HR: 1.15; 95% CI, 0.82, 1.61; p = 0.43) between primary and progressive MIBC patients treated with RC. The results further indicated no significant differences between the two populations in terms of 5-year CSS rate (OR: 1.32; 95% CI, 0.90, 1.95; p = 0.16), 10-year CSS rate (OR: 0.83; 95% CI, 0.37, 1.83; p = 0.64) as well as 5-year OS rate (OR: 1.02; 95% CI, 0.66, 1.56; p = 0.94). Subgroup analysis according to the starting point of follow-up showed similar outcomes.

CONCLUSION

The meta-analysis demonstrates comparable CSS and OS in patients with primary and progressive MIBC following RC. Novel risk stratifications and prospective trials are urgently needed to investigate the prognosis after RC of these two groups of patients, which could finally aid clinician decision making and select patients who would actually benefit from early RC.

Radical cystectomy for clinically muscle invasive bladder cancer: does prior non-invasive disease affect clinical outcomes?

PURPOSE

To compare clinical and pathologic outcomes of radical cystectomy for muscle invasive bladder cancer in relation to prior history of non-invasive urothelial carcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective data collected from 1,150 patients managed by radical cystectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder from the Canadian Bladder Cancer Network were analysed. Patients with clinical stage T2 or more were included and divided into two groups: (Group 1) patients with prior history of non-invasive urothelial carcinoma (N = 365) and (Group 2) patients with clinical muscle invasive cancer de novo (N = 785). Variables analysed included patient age, gender, pathologic stage, adjuvant chemotherapy, recurrence and mortality.

RESULTS

Both groups were nearly equal in mean age and gender distribution, with mean ages of 67.2 and 66.7 years, and 79.7 and 79.5%, respectively (P = 0.4 and 0.9, respectively). The presence of preoperative hydronephrosis was 20.8 and 32.6% (P = 0.0007) for groups 1 and 2, respectively. The rate of higher pathological stage (T3 or T4) was 36.3 and 58% (P < 0.0001), positive lymph nodes were 20.1 and 28.8% (P = 0.002), and lymphovascular invasion was 31.7 and 46.2% (P = 0.0001) for groups 1 and 2, respectively. The rate of adjuvant chemotherapy was 15.5 and 23.3% (P = 0.002) for groups 1 and 2, respectively. None of the sampled patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates at 5 years were 62 and 70% for group 1 and 51 and 60% for group 2, respectively, while at 10 years, OS and DSS were 46 and 66% for group 1 and 35 and 49% for group 2, respectively (P = 0.0001 and 0.0002, respectively). Using multivariate analysis examining factors affecting recurrence and survival, we found that previous non-invasive bladder tumour history was associated with a significantly reduced risk of mortality and recurrence (Hazard ratio of 0.7 for all risks, P = 0.0002).

CONCLUSION

Our retrospective study suggests that patients with non-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder that progress to muscle invasion and require radical cystectomy appear to have better pathologic and clinical outcome than patients presenting with clinical muscle invasive disease de novo.

[Patients with bladder cancer in clinical stage T2 : survival benefit of downstaging in comparison to patients with confirmed muscle invasion in cystectomy specimens]

BACKGROUND

Few and partially contradictory data are available regarding the prognostic signature of downstaging of muscle-invasive clinical tumour stages in patients treated with radical cystectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Clinicopathological parameters of 1,643 patients (study group, SG) treated with radical cystectomy due to muscle-invasive urothelial bladder cancer were summarized in a multi-institutional database. Patients of the SG fulfilled the following conditions: clinical tumour stage T2 N0 M0 and no administration of neoadjuvant radiation or chemotherapy. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were calculated referring to pathological tumour stages in cystectomy specimens (<pT2, pT2, >pT2) (mean follow-up: 51 months). Furthermore, a multivariable model integrating clinical information was developed in order to predict the probability of downstaging.

RESULTS

A total of 173 patients (10.5%) of the SG presented with downstaging in pathological tumour stages (pT0: 4.8%, pTa: 0.4%, pTis: 1.3%, pT1: 4.1%); 12 of these patients had positive lymph nodes (7%, in comparison with 21% pN+ of pT2 tumours and 43% of >pT2 tumours). Patients with tumour stages <pT2, pT2 and >pT2 had CSS rates after 5 years of 89, 69 and 46%, respectively (p<0.001). In a multivariable Cox model the presence of pathological downstaging resulted in a significant reduction of cancer-specific mortality (HR 0.30; 95% CI 0.18-0.50). By logistic regression analysis the date of TURB (benefit for more recent operations) was identified as the only independent predictor for downstaging of muscle-invasive clinical tumour stages. Age, gender, grading and associated Tis in the TURB did not reveal any significant influence.

CONCLUSION

Patients with muscle-invasive clinical tumour stages and downstaging in cystectomy specimens represent a subgroup with significantly enhanced CSS rates. Further trials that integrate the parameters tumour size, stages cT2a vs cT2b and focality are required in order to define the independent prognostic signature of downstaging of tumour stages more precisely.