POSSIBLE EFFECT OF INTRAVENOUS PERIOPERATIVE PEFLOXACIN ON RECURRENCERATE AND DISEASE-FREE INTERVAL IN PATIENTS WITH SUPERFICIAL BLADDER-CANCER

The purpose of this analysis was to obtain clinical experience on the possible antitumoral prophylactic activity of the fluoroquinolone pefl oxacin against transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. This inhibi tory effect has been observed in vitro. During 1993, a controlled tria l to test the antibacterial prophylactic activity of pefloxacin was co nducted on 40 patients with superficial bladder cancer who underwent t ransurethral resection and various adjuvant intravesical treatments. R ecurrence rate, interval between first observation and first recurrenc e, and disease progression were retrospectively compared with those of a group of 44 patients treated with cefotetan during 1992. The two gr oups were comparable in terms of age, disease characteristics, and adj uvant intravesical antitumoral prophylaxis. After a follow-up of more than 30 months, recurrences were observed in 43.2% and in 22.5% of pat ients treated with cefotetan and pefloxacin, respectively, and the dis ease-free interval was 13.5 months for cefotetan and 20.2 months for p efloxacin. These differences were both statistically significant. Clin ical observations, although not collected within a prospective control led study, suggest that the fluoroquinolone pefloxacin may have some a ntitumoral prophylactic activity against superficial bladder cancer, t hus indirectly supporting experimental data. Controlled clinical trial s should be performed.