Current views on intravesical treatment and chemoprophylaxis of superficial bladder cancer. The present role of epirubicin and doxorubicin.

Since 1972, a large number of studies have shown that intravesical treatment with doxorubicin (adriamycin) is effective against carcinoma in situ and multiple papillary tumors. Furthermore, it significantly reduces the recurrence rate after transurethral resection. Its efficacy has been compared with that of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), which is the only treatment accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration for therapy of carcinoma in situ (Tis). In more recent years, a few studies have been performed using intravesical epirubicin in the hope that different properties of the molecule might enhance the activity of the anthracyclines, but produce fewer and milder side-effects. After we…

L'etoposide per via Intravescicale Nella Chemioprofilassi Degli Uroteliomi Superficiali Della Vescica

Infezioni Delle Vie Urinarie: Germi responsabili e chemioresistenza negli anni 1978–1983

Correlation between clinical response and urinary interleukin levels using different doses and intravesical administration schedules of interferon-alpha-2b combined with epirubicin: a pilot study

A total of 62 patients at high risk for recurrence of superficial bladder cancer were selected for a study designed to compare the prophylactic efficacy of different doses and schedules of sequential intravesical instillations of epirubicin and interferon-alpha-2b and to evaluate which sequence could enhance the release of cytokines in the urine. Our investigations showed a significant increase in urinary concentrations of interleukins in patients who received the sequential intravesical administration of epirubicin and interferon-alpha-2b. Higher urinary concentrations of interleukins and a lower recurrence rate were detected in patients who received interferon-alpha-2b 24 h after epirubic…

Adjuvant Intravesical Chemotherapy in Patients with Primary T1 G3 Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder

The Authors present their experience with TUR plus adjuvant intravesical chemotherapy in 50 patients affected by primary T1 G3 bladder tumours without previous or concomitant carcinoma in situ. At a mean follow-up of 36 months, 84% of the patients are alive and tumour-free. Cystectomy was performed in three patients due to locally invasive disease. Five patients (10%) died of bladder cancer.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, TUR and radiotherapy in T2-T4 NO MO bladder carcinoma

– Forty patients affected by locally advanced carcinoma of the bladder were submitted to up-front chemotherapy followed by TUR and radiotherapy. A complete response was obtained in 27 patients (67.5%). A residual mass was present in 13 (32.5%) patients. At a mean follow-up of 38 months (range: 18–112 months), 7 patients showed a recurrence that was superficial in 3 cases and infiltrating the muscular layer in 4. Fifteen patients (37.5%), 12 of whom disease-free, are alive with a mean survival of 65 months. Five more patients died of non-related disease.

Study of Cellular DIMA Content by Flow Cytometry in Primary Bladder Carcinomas

A prospective study of cellular DNA content by flow cytometry was performed on a nonconsecutive series of 67 patients undergoing diagnostic and/or therapeutic transurethral resection for primary urothelial bladder carcinoma. DNA-aneuploidy was present in 82% of the cases (55/67), while multiclonality was found in 45% of the DNA-aneuploid cases (25/55). DNA-ploidy was much more strictly correlated with histological grading (p less than 0.005) than with papillary or non-papillary growth pattern (p less than 0.05) or T staging (p less than 0.05). Of 26 patients with a minimum follow-up of 24 months, 100% (6/6) of cases with DNA-diploid neoplasias showed no signs of disease relapse, versus 10% …