Long-term survival outcomes with intravesical docetaxel for recurrent nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer after previous bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy.

PURPOSE: Docetaxel is a safe agent for intravesical therapy. Adding monthly maintenance treatments can extend response durability. We report our cumulative experience with intravesical docetaxel in a larger cohort with extended followup.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 54 patients received salvage intravesical docetaxel for bacillus Calmette-Guérin refractory nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer between 2003 and 2012, including 18 treated during the original phase I trial. All patients received 6 weekly instillations of intravesical docetaxel. After the phase I trial, those with a complete response to induction treatment were offered single dose monthly maintenance treatments for a total of up to 12 months of docetaxel therapy. Recurrence was defined as positive biopsy or urine cytology. Recurrence-free, disease specific and overall survival was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis.
RESULTS: Median followup was 39.1 months. Of the 54 patients 32 (59%) had a complete initial response after induction therapy, including 18 who received additional monthly maintenance treatments. Median time to recurrence in initial responders treated with vs without docetaxel maintenance was 39.3 vs 19.0 months. One and 3-year recurrence-free survival rates for the entire cohort were 40% and 25%, respectively. Of the 54 patients 17 (24%) underwent radical cystectomy at a median of 24 months of followup. Five-year disease specific and overall survival rates were 85% and 71%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Intravesical docetaxel appears to be a promising agent with significant efficacy and durability for bacillus Calmette-Guérin refractory nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. Adding maintenance treatments may increase the duration of recurrence-free survival.