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Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Although radical cystectomy is a standard treatment in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, bladder preservation therapy including transurethral resection of bladder tumor, radiotherapy, and concurrent chemotherapy has been widely adopted, recently. This retrospective analysis was performed to evaluate the survival rates and prognostic factors related to treatment outcomes following bladder-preserving therapy including radiotherapy (RT) in bladder cancer with a curative intent.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:
We conducted a multi-institutional retrospective study of 152 patients with stage II-IV bladder cancer treated with curative RT between 2000 and 2010. There were 72 patients in stage II, 49 in stage III, and 31 in stage IV. Ninety-seven patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy and fifty-five with RT alone. Radiation was delivered to the pelvis (median 63 Gy), mainly with cisplatin. The median follow-up time was 35.5 months.

RESULTS:
Sixty-nine patients (45.4%) showed a complete response to RT. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 45.8%, the 5-year cause-specific survival (CSS) rate was 48.9%, and the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 20.8%. Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in the following factors according to the survival rates: patient age, initial hemoglobin level, clinical T stage, clinical N stage, clinical stage group, tumor response to RT, hydronephrosis, and concurrent chemotherapy. Multivariate analysis also revealed a significant difference in patient age (p = 0.003 in OS, p<0.017 in CSS) and tumor response to RT (p = 0.002 in OS, p<0.001 in CSS). Concurrent chemotherapy was significantly different in the DFS rates (p = 0.046).

CONCLUSIONS:
The survival rates reported herein are comparable to those from other studies, and tumor response and concurrent chemoradiotherapy were significant prognostic factors for better survival rates. Further randomized studies are needed to elucidate the impact of RT in bladder cancer.

Author information

Byun SJ1, Park W2, Cho KH3, Cho J4, Chang AR5, Kang KM6, Kim JH7, Kim JH1.
1
Department of Radiation Oncology, Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
2
Department of radiation oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
3
The Proton Therapy Center, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
4
Department of Radiation Oncology, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
5
Department of Radiation Oncology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
6
Department of Radiation Oncology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju, Republic of Korea.
7
Department of Radiation Oncology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.