A clinical survey of advanced bladder cancer: treatment of advanced and non-resectable bladder cancer]

Sixty-three patients with advanced cancer of more than T3b and/or non-resectable bladder cancer who were treated at Kanazawa University Hospital from January 1982 to June 1990 were analyzed with regard to treatment and prognosis. Thirty-one of the 63 patients had non-resectable bladder cancer; T3b in 9, T4b in 15, M1 in 6 and N4 in 4. Twenty-four of the 31 patients received anticancer therapy consisting of systemic chemotherapy, 8 MHz-RF hyperthermia, radiation or a combination of these modalities. With this treatment 9 patients achieved partial response, 4 minor response, 7 no change and 2 progressive disease. In 2 patients evaluation was not performed. Seven of the 31 patients received no treatment. One-year and 2-year survival rates with the above types of treatment were 27.7% and 16.7%, respectively, and 33.4% and 16.7%, respectively, without anti-cancer treatment. There was no significant difference between the survival rates of the two groups. Thirty-two of the 63 patients underwent operation. In 17 patients, total cystectomy was carried out, 9 and 8 of whom received and did not received respectively various adjuvant therapies before operation. One-year and 2-year survivals in the group undergoing adjuvant therapy were 33.3% and 11.1%, respectively, and 66.7% and 66.7% respectively in the group without adjuvant therapy. Survival of the 2 groups did not differ significantly. These data indicate that anticancer treatment including chemotherapy, hyperthermia and radiation dose not enhance long-term survival.