Treatment of multiple superficial papillary tumors of the bladder by intracavitary yttrium-90.

Intravesical Y-90 was used in 38 patients with multiple papillary T1 tumors considered beyond control by cystodiathermy. Of the 32 patients available for 3-year observation 19 (60 per cent) were alive after 3 years, 6 had died of progression of the tumor and 7 had died of other causes. Prolonged imporvement was noted in 23 patients (72 per cent). The complication rate was moderate and only 2 patients required cystectomy for symptoms caused by radiation damage alone.