Long-Term Oncologic Outcomes after Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer at a Single Institution

The aim of this study was to evaluate our experience using radical cystectomy to treat patients with bladder cancer and to describe the associations between pathologic features and clinical outcomes. All 701 patients who underwent radical cystectomy for bladder cancer were evaluated. The patient population consisted of 623 men and 78 women. The overall 5 and 10 yr recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were 61.8% and 57.7%, respectively, and the 5 and 10 yr cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were 70.8% and 65.1%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that factors significantly predictive of RFS and CSS included extravesical extension (P= 0.001), lymph node metastasis (P= 0.001), and lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.001 and P= 0.007). The 5 and 10 yr RFS rates for patients with lymph node metastasis were 25.6% and 20.8%, respectively, and the 5 and 10 yr CSS rates were 38.6% and 30.9%, respectively. Adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved RFS (P= 0.002) and CSS (P= 0.001) in patients with lymph node metastasis. Radical cystectomy provides good survival results in patients with invasive bladder cancer. Pathologic features significantly associated with prognosis include extravesical extension, node metastasis, and lymphovascular invasion. Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with advanced stage disease.