5-year followup of a randomized prospective study comparing mitomycin C and bacillus Calmette-Guerin in patients with superficial bladder carcinoma

Purpose: We report the 5-year followup of a randomized comparison of mitomy cin C and bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in patients with superficial bladd er carcinoma. Recurrence, progression and survival rates, crossover results , prognostic factors and long-term side effects were analyzed. Materials and Methods: A total of 261 patients were enrolled in the study, and the inclusion criteria were primary Tis, dysplasia G2, T1 G3 and multip le recurrent Ta/T1 G1-2 disease. Intravesical instillations of 40 mg. mitom ycin C and 120 mg, Pasteur BCG, Danish strain 1331, were given for 2 years, Results: After a median followup of 64 months 101 of the 250 evaluable pati ents (42%) were disease-free, A significant difference was noted in disease -free survival with BCG (p = 0.04), which was most pronounced for stage Tis disease. No difference in tumor progression, or crude or corrected surviva l was found between the 2 arms. Crossover treatment was successful in 39% o f patients with second line BCG and 19% with second line mitomycin C. Indep endent risk factors for progression were initial p53 status and stage. Only the completion of treatment was predictive of outcome for patients treated with BCG. Bladder shrinkage occurred in 2.4% of patients. Conclusions: Therapy with BCG was superior to mitomycin C for recurrence pr ophylaxis but no difference was found for progression and survival.