Clinical role of additional adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced urothelial carcinoma following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and cystectomy

Purpose

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) can downstage invasive bladder cancers prior to radical cystectomy (RC) and improve overall survival. However, the optimal management in patients with persistent non-organ confined disease (pT3–T4 and/or pN+) following RC has not been completely defined. The aim of this study was to describe outcomes associated with the use of adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) in patients with residual non-organ confined cancer at RC following NAC.

Materials and methods

Using data from a high-volume referral institution, pT3–T4 and/or pN+ patients who received NAC and then also RC were identified. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed with Kaplan–Meier analysis.

Results

From 2001 to 2013, 161 patients received NAC and then RC. Eighty-eight pT3–T4 and/or pN+ patients were identified. Twenty-nine (33 %) received AC. Adjuvant chemotherapy in the majority of patients was carboplatin-based (16), followed by cisplatin (8) and other, mainly taxane-containing regimens (5). The median RFS was 17.5 months in the AC and 13.7 months in the non-AC group (p = 0.78). AC remained an insignificant predictor for RFS after adjusting for pT, pN and margin status (HR 0.89, 95 % CI 0.48–1.68]). CSS was 23 and 22 months (p = 0.65) and remained insignificant after adjusting for pathologic confounders.

Conclusions

In our current study population, adjuvant conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy was not associated with significant improvements in RFS or CSS. The choice of AC regimens, and incorporation of newer treatments, may be the key for improving outcomes in this high-risk patient group.