Recurrence of primary superficial bladder cancer treated with prophylactic intravesical Tokyo 172 bacillus Calmette-Guérin: a long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Long-term results after transurethral resection (TUR) and prophylactic intravesical Tokyo 172 bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy for primary superficial bladder cancer were analyzed by multivariate analysis, and factors affecting the recurrence of bladder tumors after this therapy were examined.
METHODS: One-hundred and forty-one consecutive patients with primary superficial bladder cancer who consulted the Department of Urology at Wakayama Medical College and affiliated hospitals between May 1985 and May 1990 were studied. Tokyo strain BCG was given intravesically (80 mg in 40 ml saline) weekly for 6 weeks.
RESULTS: The 5-year cumulative recurrence-free rate by the Kaplan-Meier method was 0.702 in 141 patients with primary superficial bladder cancer. The 5-year recurrence-free function using the proportional hazard model was 0.743. Using the Cox proportional hazard model, variables that significantly contributed to recurrence after intravesical BCG included female sex, tumor size less than 1 cm in diameter, and T1 tumor stage. Patient age, tumor type, multiplicity, tumor grade, and concomitant carcinoma in situ did not contribute to recurrence.
CONCLUSION: Long-term results showed that prophylactic intravesical Tokyo strain BCG after TUR for primary superficial bladder cancer is also effective in preventing the recurrence of bladder cancer, and the biologic behavior of superficial bladder cancer other than stage T1 tumor may be altered after intravesical BCG.