Outcome of patients who refuse cystectomy after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the outcome of patients who refuse cystectomy after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
METHODS: Between 1995 and 2001, 63 patients were evaluated who declined to undergo a planned cystectomy, because they achieved a complete clinical response to neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Patient, tumor, and treatment features were assessed prospectively, and correlated in univariate and multivariate analyses with overall survival. The median follow-up was 86 mo and all patients were followed for more than 5 yr.
RESULTS: Forty patients (64%) survived, with 54% of them having an intact functioning bladder. The number and size of invasive tumors were strongly associated with overall survival. The most significant treatment variable predicting better survival was complete resection of the invasive tumor on re-staging transurethral resection before starting chemotherapy. Of 23 patients (36%) who subsequently died of disease, 19 (30%) relapsed with invasive cancer in the bladder. Over 90% of surviving patients had solitary, small, and low-stage invasive tumors completely resected, and 83% survived without relapses in the bladder.
CONCLUSIONS: Selected patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancers may survive after transurethral resection and neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and tumor features can identify which patients responding completely to chemotherapy may survive without cystectomy.