Single Versus Maintenance Intravesical Chemotherapy for the Prevention of Bladder Recurrence after Radical Nephroureterectomy for Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Bladder recurrence (BR) after radical nephroureterectomy is a significant problem that might be a result of field change or tumor seeding theories. Like non-emuscle-invasive bladder cancer, maintenance intravesical chemotherapy is thought to decrease BR when compared with single instillations. Nevertheless, we found a comparable incidence of BR in both groups through a randomized clinical trial. Furthermore, the presence of lymphovascular invasion was found to be an independent predictor of BR. Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine the efficiency of 1-year maintenance intravesical chemotherapy (MIC) in reducing bladder recurrence (BR) after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma compared with single intravesical instillation (SIC). Patients and Methods: Between January 2015 and May 2017, patients who underwent RNU were randomized to receive SIC (epirubicin 50 mg) or MIC (once weekly for 6 weeks plus once monthly for 1 year). The primary outcome was the rate of histologically proven BR. The secondary outcomes included chemotherapy-related toxicities and disease-specific survival (DSS). Thirty-five patients in each arm were required to achieve a power of 80%. Results: A total of 38 (SIC) and 36 (MIC) patients were analyzed. In SIC, BR developed in 5 (13.2%) over a median follow-up of 3 months (range, 3-6 months) compared with 9 (25%) patients over 12 months (range, 3-28 months) in MIC (P = .08). The 6- and 12-month BR-free survivals were the same (86.8%) in SIC versus 88.9% and 83.3% in MIC, respectively (P = .2). Lymphovascular invasion was significantly associated with BR (P = .04). Post-RNU intravesical chemotherapy regimens did not alter DSS. Blood transfusion and advanced tumor stage were independent predictors for DSS. No significant medication toxicity was reported. Conclusions: Following RNU, MIC did not change the natural course of BR beyond a single instillation apart from potentially delaying its occurrence. Lymphovascular invasion and blood transfusion were associated with worse BR and DSS outcomes, respectively.