Bacillus calmette-guerin versus chemotherapy for the intravesical treatment of patients with carcinoma in situ of the bladder: a meta-analysis of the published results of randomized clinical trials.

PURPOSE: We determined the short-term and long-term efficacy of bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with carcinoma in situ (CIS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A meta-analysis was performed on published results of randomized clinical trials comparing intravesical BCG to intravesical chemotherapy.

RESULTS: Nine randomized trials including 700 patients with CIS compared BCG to either mitomycin C (MMC), epirubicin, adriamycin, or sequential MMC/adriamycin. Of 298 patients on BCG 203 (68.1%) had a complete response compared with 158 of 307 patients on chemotherapy (51.5%), a reduction of 47% in the odds of nonresponse on BCG (OR 0.53, p =0.0002). Based on a median followup of 3.6 years, 161 of 345 patients on BCG (46.7%) had no evidence of disease compared with 93 of 355 patients on chemotherapy (26.2%), a reduction of 59% in the odds of treatment failure on BCG (OR 0.41, p <0.0001). Although the long-term benefit of BCG was smaller in trials with MMC, BCG was superior to MMC in trials with maintenance BCG (OR 0.57, p =0.04). The reduction of 26% in the risk of progression on BCG (p =0.20) is consistent with the reduction of 27% (p =0.001) previously reported in a larger superficial bladder cancer meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: Intravesical BCG significantly reduces the risk of short and long-term treatment failure compared with intravesical chemotherapy. Therefore, it is considered to be the intravesical agent of choice in the treatment of CIS.