Long-term outcomes of salvage radical cystectomy for recurrent urothelial carcinoma of the bladder following partial cystectomy.

UNLABELLED: Study Type - Therapy (outcomes) Level of Evidence 2b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Data on the oncological outcomes in patients undergoing salvage cystectomy for recurrent disease following bladder-sparing treatment is limited and mostly based on case reports. We present the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for recurrent disease following partial cystectomy with long-term follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: To report the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients undergoing salvage radical cystectomy (sRC) for recurrent urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the bladder following partial cystectomy (PC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1971 and 2011, a total of 2290 patients underwent radical cystectomy for UC of the bladder, including 72 patients (3.1%) who underwent sRC following PC. Clinical and pathological data at the time of both PC and sRC were collected. Median follow-up time after sRC was 10.9 years. Overall survival and recurrence-free survival were the primary outcomes of interest. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors after sRC.

RESULTS: The median time from PC to sRC was 1.6 years. Median age at sRC was 64 years. Peri-operative mortality was 2.8%. After sRC, 44 patients (61.2%) had pathologically organ-confined disease, 14 patients (19.4%) extravesical disease and 14 patients (19.4%) lymph node positive disease. Five-year recurrence-free survival and overall survival following sRC were 56% and 41%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, the presence of pathological tumor stage ≥pT3a (hazard ratio 6.86, P < 0.001) and the presence of lymph node metastases (hazard ratio 8.78, P < 0.001) were associated with increased risk of recurrence after sRC.

CONCLUSIONS: sRC can provide prolonged survival following failure of PC. Prognosis, however, is highly dependent on pathological tumour stage and nodal status at sRC. Only 15% of patients with locally advanced recurrent disease were salvaged by sRC.