Brachytherapy after external beam radiotherapy and limited surgery preserves bladders for patients with solitary pT1-pT3 bladder tumors
Annals of Oncology, 06/22/2012
Koning CCE et al. – EBRT followed by brachytherapy, combined with limited surgery, offers excellent results in terms of bladder sparing for selected groups of patients suffering from bladder cancer.
Methods- Data from 12 of 13 departments which are using this approach have been collected retrospectively, in a multicenter database, resulting in 1040 patients: 811 males and 229 females with a median age of 66 years, range 28–92 years.
- Results were analyzed according to tumor stage and diameter, histology grade, age and brachytherapy technique, continuous low-dose rate (CLDR) and pulsed dose rate (PDR).
- At 1, 3 and 5 years, the local recurrence-free probability was 91%, 80% and 75%, metastasis-free probability was 91%, 80% and 74%, disease-free probability was 85%, 68% and 61% and overall survival probability was 91%, 74% and 62%, respectively.
- The differences in the outcome between the contributing departments were small.
- After multivariate analysis, the only factor influencing the local control rate was the brachytherapy technique.
- Toxicity consisted mainly of 24 fistula, 144 ulcers/necroses and 93 other types.
