A prospective study evaluating surgery and chemo radiation in muscle invasive bladder cancer

AIM: The aim of our study was to compare the two standard treatment approaches in muscle invasive carcinoma of urinary bladder--radical cystectomy and chemo radiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of bladder of stages, T2 to T4, N0/N1/N2 and M0 were included in the study. Patients were allotted to two arms of the study. Arm A consisted of radical cystectomy. Adjuvant CMV chemotherapy was given for T3/T4 or Node positive disease only. Arm B received 2 cycles of neoadjuvant CMV chemo therapy followed by concurrent chemo radiation. RESULTS: Forty-four patients were recruited into the study. Thirty patients in the surgical arm and 13 patients in the chemo radiation arm. The actuarial two-year survival rate in surgical arm is 56% while in chemo radiation arm it is 54%. There was no statistically significant difference in disease-free survival also between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Chemo radiation yielded equivalent survival results with radical cystectomy. So it is worth giving preference to chemo radiation that will give a better quality of life for the patient.