Survival of patients with metastatic bladder cancer in the Russian Federation: results of a multicenter registry study URRU

Background. Data on the overall survival (OS) of patients with metastatic bladder cancer (BCa) is rarely published.

The objective of the URRU register study is to assess OS and collect information on the administration of different treatments in patients with metastatic BCa in routine clinical practice in Russia.

Materials and methods. Patients were retrospectively identified in 9 oncology centers in different regions of Russia and included in the study if they were diagnosed with metastatic BCa between January 2017 and January 2018. We collected anonymized data online, including demographic characteristics of patients, details of their therapy, and outcomes.

Results. This study included 246 patients. Their mean age upon the diagnosis of metastatic BCa was 72 years with 60.6 % of patients over 70 years of age. The proportion of males was 74.8 %. The histological subtype of BCa (urothelial carcinoma, etc.) was identified in 70.3 % of cases. Ninety-two patients (37.4 %) received pharmacotherapy. The most common treatment option was chemotherapy (76 %); the most common drug combination was gemcitabine and cisplatin (41.3 %). Immunotherapy was used in 19.6 % of patients; 13.6 % of participants received more than two lines of therapy. Three-year OS rate was 10.6 %; median OS was 7 months (95 % confidence interval (CI) 5.4-8.6). Patients receiving systemic therapy demonstrated significantly longer survival than those receiving no therapy (21 months; 95 % CI 17.38-24.62 vs 3 months; 95 % CI 1.79-4.22; p <0.0001). Patients receiving immunotherapy had better survival than individuals receiving chemotherapy (median OS 34.5 months vs 18 months; p = 0.003).

Conclusion. The survival rates in the URRU study were relatively low, which can be attributed to the fact that only one-third of patients received pharmacotherapy and very few patients received immunotherapy. Second and subsequent lines of therapy were rarely used in patients with progressive disease. The implementation of novel treatments, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, will increase the survival of BCa patients.