The ablative effect of intravesical therapy is known for decades. However, the clinical feasibility and efficacy of chemoablation for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) have not become accepted.
To assess the treatment outcomes of chemoablation for NMIBC and to compare its safety with that of the standard treatment, transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT) followed by intravesical therapy.
Multiple databases were queried in July 2022 for studies investigating the complete response (CR) rates and adverse events in NMIBC patients treated with chemoablation using mitomycin C (MMC), gemcitabine, epirubicin, or bacillus Calmette-Guérin.
Overall, 23 studies comprising 1199 patients were eligible for this meta-analysis. Among these studies, 20 assessed the efficacy of chemoablation and three compared the treatment outcomes of MMC chemoablation versus standard treatment. Among patients treated with weekly administration of any agent, the pooled CR rates at initial assessment were 50.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 45.9-55.9) for the marker lesion and 47.5% (95% CI: 36.5-58.7) for well-selected NMIBC (ie, small tumors and/or a small number of tumors). Novel regimens for chemoablation such as MMC-gel (70.6%, 95% CI: 60.1-79.3) and an intensive MMC regimen (64.7%, 95% CI: 56.2-72.3) provided better CR rates in well-selected NMIBC patients. Comparable CR rates were noted irrespective of tumor multiplicity, whereas tumor size <5 mm was associated with a higher CR rate than tumor size ≥5 mm (odds ratio: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.17-0.79). The novel intensive MMC regimen resulted in lower rates of dysuria and urinary frequency than standard treatment.
Despite the lack of long-term outcomes, chemoablation appears to be a promising treatment option for well-selected NMIBC patients and can potentially help avoid unnecessary TURBT, specifically in some elderly patients with intermediate-risk NMIBC. Further well-designed studies with larger cohorts are necessary to address the differential tolerability and long-term anticancer efficacy of this resurging approach.
Bladder instillation therapy has a potential ablative effect for well-selected non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. This can lead to the omission of an unnecessary surgical treatment.
European urology focus. 2022 Dec 12 [Epub ahead of print]
Takafumi Yanagisawa, Fahad Quhal, Tatsushi Kawada, Hadi Mostafaei, Reza Sari Motlagh, Ekaterina Laukhtina, Pawel Rajwa, Markus von Deimling, Alberto Bianchi, Maximilian Pallauf, Muhammad Majdoub, Benjamin Pradere, Marco Moschini, Pierre I Karakiewicz, Jeremy Yuen-Chun Teoh, Jun Miki, Takahiro Kimura, Shahrokh F Shariat
Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Research Center for Evidence Based Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Men's Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Medical University of Silesia, Zabrze, Poland., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, University of Verona, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata, Verona, Italy., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, University Hospital Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Hadera, Israel., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria., Department of Urology, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy., Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, Division of Urology, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Canada., S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China., Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia; Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan; Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Urology, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: .