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Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Therapy for Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancers: Long-term Results of a Modified Schedule

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Abstract

Intravesical BCG therapy is an integral part of management of non-muscle invasive bladder cancers. Our aim is to analyze the non-muscle invasive bladder cancer patients treated at our center with a modified schedule intravesical BCG therapy. Data from patients treated at our center from 2009 to 2017 was collected from patient records and analyzed. A 6-weekly 120-mg induction course followed by 6 monthly 120 mg has been used at our institute for NMIBC. Clinicopathological and treatment variables were collected. A total of 119 patients were treated at our center with a median follow-up period of 4.18 years with the above schedule. Nearly 96% patients were able to complete induction therapy and 79% completed the maintenance therapy. The 5-year recurrence-free survival was 83%. The recurrence and progression rates were 16.8% and 4.2% respectively. About 60% of the patients suffered from side effects of BCG with 11% having class 3 or 4 toxicity. Our regimen of monthly maintenance intravesical BCG for 6 months shows good control rates with high compliance, similar to those of other contemporary series, although with higher incidence of high-grade toxicity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Chandra Kumar Krishnan for doing statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), No. 38 Sardar Patel Marg, Adyar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600020, India

    Kanuj Malik & Anand Raja

  2. Department of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, India

    Lalgudi Subramaniam Ravishankar

  3. Department of Surgical Oncology, Apollo Hospital, Chennai, India

    Kathiresan Narayanaswamy

  4. Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, India

    Venkatraman Radhakrishnan & Tenali Gnana Sagar

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  1. Kanuj Malik
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  2. Anand Raja
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  3. Lalgudi Subramaniam Ravishankar
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  4. Kathiresan Narayanaswamy
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  5. Venkatraman Radhakrishnan
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  6. Tenali Gnana Sagar
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All authors contributed equally to the research and manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anand Raja.

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The research was conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Institute where the study was carried out: Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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Malik, K., Raja, A., Ravishankar, L.S. et al. Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Therapy for Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancers: Long-term Results of a Modified Schedule. Indian J Surg Oncol 12, 796–801 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13193-021-01439-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13193-021-01439-w

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