Treatment and prognosis in patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder metastasizing to regional lymph nodes

Objective: to assess the results of treatment and to identify the predictors of survival in patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder with regional lymph node metastasis.

Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of 56 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (pT₁—4aN₁—2M_0—1,) who underwent radical cystectomy at the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Center between 1980 and 2005 was performed. Their median age was 58.6 years; males and females were 85.7 and 14.3%, respectively. Studer`s (19.7%), Bricker`s (73.2%) procedures and ureterocutaneostomy (7.1%) were used for urinary divertion. Thirty-six (64.3%) of the 56 patients received additional treatment: neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT) (n = 2 (3.6%)), adjuvant therapy (n = 32 (57.1%)); CT (n = 24 (42.8%)), and radiotherapy (n = 6 (10.7%)), chemoradiation therapy (n = 2 (3.6%)), and neo- and adjuvant CT (n = 2 (3.6%)). The median follow-up was 21.7 months (1-97.6 months).

Results. The effect of neoadjuvant CT was assessed as stabilization in all cases. Less than 15 lymph nodes were removed in 27 (48.2%), 15 lymph nodes or more were removed in 29 (51.8%) patients. The category pN+ was diagnosed in all cases: pN1 in 19 (33.9%), pN2 in 37 (66.1%). Involvement of nonregional (paraaortic) lymph nodes (pM+) was detected in 3 (5.4%) patients. Recurrences developed in 41 (71.9%) of the 56 patients on an average of 11.8 months after termination of treatment: localized regional and distant metastases in 3 (5.3%) and 35 (61.4%) patients, respectively; their combination in 3 (5.3%). In all 56 patients, overall, tumor-specific, and relapse-free 5-year survival was 32.1, 34.0, and 17.9%, respectively. Univariate analysis indicated that a history of superficial carcinoma (p = 0.036), as well as nonregional lymphogenic metastases (p = 0.036), and additional treatment (p = 0.020) were significant predictors. There was a trend for better survival in patients with pT < 3a (p = 0.056), after removal of more than 15 lymph nodes (p = 0.084), Bricker's operation (p = 0.055), and adjuvant therapy (p = 0.065).

Conclusion. Multimodal approach for transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder with regional metastases improves tumor-specific 5-year survival as compared with that after radical cystectomy alone.