OBJECTIVES: To assess the long-term outcome and the risk for local recurrence of patients with small cell carcinoma of the bladder (SCCB) treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by external beam radiotherapy (sequential chemoradiation).
METHODS: All consecutive patients with primary small cell carcinoma of the bladder (n = 66), treated in our institution between 1993 and 2011 were retrospectively evaluated from an institutional database. Only patients with limited disease (Tx-4N0-1M0) small cell carcinoma of the bladder treated with sequential chemoradiation (n = 27) were included in this study. Recurrence rates, overall survival and cancer-specific survival were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method.
RESULTS: Median time to recurrence was 20 months, median overall survival 26 months, 5-year overall survival 22.2%, median cancer-specific survival 47 months and 5-year cancer-specific survival 39.6%. For complete responders after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n = 19), median cancer-specific survival was 52 months with a 5-year cancer-specific survival 45.9% versus a median cancer-specific survival of 22 months and 5-year cancer-specific survival 0.0% for incomplete responders (n = 8; P = 0.034). Eight patients (29.6%) underwent transurethral resections (TUR-BT) for local recurrences in the bladder. At the end of follow up, four patients had undergone cystectomy for recurrence of disease resulting in a bladder-preservation rate of 85.2%. Median time to local recurrence was 29 months and median time to distant recurrence was 10 months.
CONCLUSIONS: Sequential chemoradiation for limited disease small cell carcinoma of the bladder results in a reasonable outcome with a high bladder preservation rate. Response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy represents a significant prognostic factor in this patient population.
Written by:
Meijer RP, Meinhardt W, van der Poel HG, van Rhijn BW, Kerst JM, Pos FJ, Horenblas S, Bex A. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Urology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Reference: Int J Urol. 2012 Dec 11. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/iju.12038
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23231456
UroToday.com Bladder Cancer Section
