Downstaging and survival benefits of neoadjuvant radiotherapy before cystectomy for patients with invasive bladder carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term outcomes of a series of patients treated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy combined with cystectomy against a later series of patients treated with immediate cystectomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 187 consecutive patients, surgically treated with cystectomy due to cT1-3 transitional cell bladder carcinoma with (n=90) or without (n=97) neoadjuvant radiotherapy, was included in a retrospective analysis. The clinical stage at the primary bladder resection and the pathological reports after the cystectomy were re-evaluated and progression-free, disease-specific and overall survival were calculated. RESULTS: Seven of 97 (7%) patients treated without any neoadjuvant therapy had pT0 in the bladder specimen. In contrast, 51 of 90 patients (57%) treated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy downstaged to pT0. Among cT3 tumours none of 16 patients (0%) treated without radiotherapy downstaged to pT0, while 19 (56%) of 34 patients treated with radiotherapy did so. The progression-free survival was significantly longer for patients with pT0 than for those with a remaining tumour (pT1-4) in the cystectomy specimen (p<0.001). A high T stage correlated with adverse overall survival. Patients with cT3 tumours treated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy followed by cystectomy had significantly longer disease-specific survival time (p=0.007) than those undergoing cystectomy only. In a Cox regression analysis, cT stage as well as pT stage and occurrence of carcinoma in situ in the cystectomy specimens remained as independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective study neoadjuvant radiotherapy before the cystectomy resulted in significant downstaging of invasive bladder transitional cell carcinoma. This downstaging was most significant for patients with cT3 tumours leading to prolonged survival.