Contemporary use and survival after perioperative systemic chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced non-metastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder treated with radical cystectomy.

Locally advanced muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients who are candidates for radical cystectomy (RC) should receive perioperative chemotherapy (CHT). However, the adherence to CHT guidelines is low. Thus, we tested contemporary CHT use rates and associated cancer-specific mortality (CSM) and overall mortality (OM) rates.

Within the SEER database (2004-2015), we identified pT3N0/+ MIBC patients, who underwent RC, with or without perioperative CHT. Estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) analyses were used. After inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), Kaplan-Meier (KM) analyses and Cox regression models (CRMs) tested the association of CHT on survival in the overall population (n = 3817), as well as after stratification according to stage, gender and age. Landmark analyses tested for immortal time bias.

Overall, 44.3% of patients received CHT. Between 2004 and 2015, CHT administration rates increased from 32.1% to 55.6% (EAPC: +6.0%; p < 0.001). In CRMs, CHT was associated with lower CSM (HR 0.73, CI 0.65-0.81) and OM (HR 0.69, CI 0.62-0.76). In sensitivity analyses, CHT was also associated with lower CSM and OM in N0 patients (CSM: HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.65-0.88; OM: HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.79) and in N+ patients (CSM: HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.59-0.80; OM: HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.58-0.77), as well as according to gender and age. Landmark analyses confirmed the above results.

Perioperative CHT was associated with better survival and its rate of use increased in locally-advanced MIBC RC patients. The latter confirm one large observational study and several small prospective studies.

European journal of surgical oncology : the journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and the British Association of Surgical Oncology. 2019 Feb 03 [Epub ahead of print]

Elio Mazzone, Sebastiano Nazzani, Sophie Knipper, Zhe Tian, Felix Preisser, Andrea Gallina, Denis Soulières, Derya Tilki, Francesco Montorsi, Shahrokh F Shariat, Fred Saad, Alberto Briganti, Juan Wisnivesky, Pierre I Karakiewicz

Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Division of Oncology, Unit of Urology, URI, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: ., Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Academic Department of Urology, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, University of Milan, Milan, Italy., Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Martini Klinik, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany., Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada., Division of Oncology, Unit of Urology, URI, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy., Martini Klinik, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Department of Urology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany., Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria., Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.