The Impact of Non-Compliance to a Standardized Risk-Adjusted Protocol on Recurrence, Progression, and Mortality in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.
Cancer Manag Res 2021;
13:2937-2945. [PMID:
33833577 PMCID:
PMC8020126 DOI:
10.2147/cmar.s299148]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE
Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is a potentially curable or controllable disease if strict adherence to a surveillance protocol is followed. Management and surveillance of NMIBC begins at the time of diagnosis up to a few years thereafter. There is scanty data in the literature evaluating the impact of non-compliance with the surveillance protocols on progression, recurrence, and mortality rate.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
An observational, retrospective cohort study recruited data between 2012 and 2017 at two tertiary hospitals. Data were collected consecutively. NMIBC patients who had at least 3 years of follow-up data were included. Patients were divided into different groups based on their compliance with the cystoscopy follow-up protocol as recommended by the European guidelines. We compared the cystoscopy compliant group with the non-compliant group in view of recurrence, progression, and mortality. In addition, missing variable items during surveillance were calculated using a new scoring model to predict adverse outcomes.
RESULTS
Eighty-eight NMIBC patients met our criteria. Recurrence rate (RR), progression rate (PR), metastasis rate (MsR), and mortality rate (MR) are significantly higher in non-compliant group, RR: (92.6%) (P<0.001), PR: (54.1%) (P<0.001), MsR: (37.7%) (P<0.001), MR: (23.5%) (P= 0.002) respectively. In the subgroup analysis, intermediate and high-risk groups have a PR rate of zero in the compliant group, while it is 100% (P<0.001) and 56.4% (P=0.001) in the non-compliant group, respectively. Use of a Kaplan Meier (KM) graph shows that compliant patients had a better survival in comparison to non-compliant patients. Scoring there or more is statistically and clinically significantly associated with higher recurrence, progression, and mortality. RR: (94%) (P=0.016), PR: 49% (P<0.001) and MR (26%) (P=0.012).
CONCLUSION
Non-compliance to a standardized surveillance protocol in NMIBC is associated statistically and clinically with adverse outcomes in comparison to a compliant group. This mandates strict adherence to surveillance guidelines particularly in patients with high-risk disease.
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