Table 1 shows the characteristics of the patients experiencing recurrence after RC. The study cohort consisted of 65 men (75.6%) and 21 women (24.4%) with a median age of 70 years at recurrence. Of those 86 patients, 38 (44.2%) received SC, and 48 (55.8%) received BSC. In terms of oncologic outcomes, 83.7% of the patients (n = 72) died from their cancer (SC: 89.5% [n = 34]; BSC: 79.2% [n = 38]), with a median time to recurrence of 12.0 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 4.7–24.5 months) and a median CSS of 4.7 months (IQR: 2.1–12.4 months). We observed no significant difference in clinicopathologic factors between the groups with the exception of the proportions of male and female patients.
Table 1
Characteristics of patients with either salvage cytotoxic chemotherapy (SC) or best supportive care (BSC).
Characteristic | BSC (n=48) | SC (n=38) | P-value |
Age, years [median [IQR]) | 71 (62–76) | 69 (61–75) | 0.71 |
Sex (n [%]) | | | |
| Male | 32 (66.6) | 33 (86.8) | 0.043 |
| Female | 16 (33.3) | 5 (13.2) |
T Stage (n [%]) | | | |
| ≤pT2 | 15 (31.2) | 12 (31.6) | 0.99 |
| ≥pT3 | 31 (64.6) | 25 (65.8) |
| Unknown | 2 (4.2) | 1 (2.6) |
N Stage (n [%]) | | | |
| pN0 | 31 (64.6) | 25 (65.8) | 0.91 |
| ≥pN1 | 17 (35.4) | 13 (34.2) |
Grade (n [%]) | | | |
| G1/2 | 13 (27.1) | 10 (26.3) | 0.99 |
| G3 | 31 (64.6) | 24 (63.2) |
| Unknown | 4 (8.3) | 4 (10.5) |
Lymphovascular invasion (n [%]) | | | |
| Positive | 29 (60.4) | 25 (65.8) | 0.43 |
| Negative | 17 (35.4) | 10 (26.3) |
| Unknown | 2 (4.2) | 3 (7.9) |
Carcinoma in situ (n [%]) | | | |
| Positive | 6 (12.5) | 4 (10.5) | 0.72 |
| Negative | 40 (83.3) | 34 (89.5) |
| Unknown | 2 (4.2) | 0 |
Soft-tissue surgical margin (n [%]) | | | |
| Positive | 6 (12.5) | 10 (28.9) | 0.10 |
| Negative | 42 (87.5) | 28 (71.1) |
Adjuvant chemotherapy (n [%]) | | | |
| Yes | 19 (39.6) | 11 (72.7) | 0.30 |
| No | 29 (60.4) | 27 (27.3) |
Follow-up, months (median [IQR]) | 17.1 (9.0–39.3) | 27.5 (14.1–40.8) | 0.049 |
IQR = interquartile range. |
The 152 recurrence sites observed were lymph node (n = 39, 25.6%), liver (n = 26, 17.1%), bone (n = 25, 16.4%), lung (n = 21, 13.8%), upper urinary tract (n = 17, 11.2%), peritoneum (n = 7, 4.6%), skin (n = 6, 3.9%), brain (n = 5, 3.3%), and others (n = 6, 3.9%). In the SC group, 82.8% of the 41 SC regimens administered were cisplatin-based: MVAC (n = 14, 34.1%), GC (n = 13, 31.7%), epirubicin–cisplatin (n = 6, 14.6%), and methotrexate–vincristine–cisplatin (n = 1, 2.4%). Others included gemcitabine–paclitaxel (n = 4, 9.8%), nedaplatin alone (n = 2, 4.9%), and gemcitabine alone (n = 1, 2.4%). Cisplatin was also dominant among the 30 AC regimens delivered: MVAC (n = 15, 50.0%), GC (n = 11, 36.7%), methotrexate–epirubicin–cisplatin (n = 2, 6.7%), gemcitabine–paclitaxel (n = 1, 3.3%), and carboplatin–etoposide (n = 1, 3.3%). Of the 38 patients who received SC, 35 (92.1%) received it in the 1st line, and 3 (7.9%), in the 2nd line. A median of 3 courses of both SC (IQR: 1–4 courses) and AC (IQR: 1–10 courses) were delivered during the follow-up period, and 86.7% of the patients given AC (n = 26 of 30) subsequently received the same regimen as SC (MVAC: 14/15; GC: 11/11; gemcitabine–paclitaxel: 1/1).
A Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the median survival duration was 6 months longer for patients in the SC group than for those in BSC group, a nonsignificant difference (SC: 9.4 months; BSC: 3.4 months; Fig. 1). A multivariate analysis adjusted for the effects of clinicopathologic factors showed that liver metastasis (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.13; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17 to 3.85; P = 0.01) and locally advanced disease (HR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.06 to 3.46; P = 0.03) were independent risk factors for worse CSS (Table 2).
Table 2
Univariate and multivariate analyses for worse cancer-specific survival.
Variable | Category | Univariate analysis | Multivariate analysis |
HR | 95% CI | P-value | HR | 95% CI | P-value |
Age | ≥70 | 1.04 | 0.66-1.66 | 0.86 | 1.37 | 0.82–2.28 | 0.23 |
≤69 | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
Sex | Female | 1.36 | 0.80-2.30 | 0.25 | 1.51 | 0.82–2.79 | 0.19 |
Male | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
T stage | ≥pT3 | 1.47 | 0.88-2.46 | 0.14 | 1.92 | 1.06–3.46 | 0.03 |
≤pT2 | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
TTR from RC | <12 months | 1.41 | 0.81-2.47 | 0.23 | 1.12 | 0.67-1.87 | 0.67 |
≥12 months | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
metastasis | Liver | Positive | 1.68 | 1.02-2.77 | 0.041 | 2.13 | 1.17–3.85 | 0.01 |
Negative | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
| Lung | Positive | 1.21 | 0.72-2.05 | 0.47 | 1.57 | 0.85–2.91 | 0.15 |
Negative | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
| Lymph node | Positive | 0.89 | 0.56-1.42 | 0.63 | 0.90 | 0.53-1.52 | 0.69 |
Negative | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
| Bone | Positive | 0.89 | 0.53-1.48 | 0.66 | 0.90 | 0.48-1.69 | 0.75 |
Negative | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
SC | Positive | 0.67 | 0.42-1.07 | 0.096 | 0.72 | 0.40-1.29 | 0.27 |
Negative | 1.0 | | 1.0 | |
HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; TTR, time to recurrence; RC, radical cystectomy; SC, salvage cytotoxic chemotherapy. |
In the risk stratification model, patients were assigned to one of two groups based on the presence of liver metastasis and locally advanced disease. The low-risk group, with neither risk factor, consisted of 18 patients, and the high-risk group, with either or both of the risk factors, consisted of 68 patients. In the low-risk group, Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed no significant difference in CSS between patients receiving SC and those receiving BSC (P = 0.394). In the high-risk group, CSS was significantly better for patients receiving SC than for those receiving BSC, with median survival durations of 9.4 months and 2.4 months respectively (P = 0.005, Fig. 2A).
We also analyzed 4 treatment groups categorized according to history of SC and AC: patients receiving AC with SC (n = 11, 12.8%), those receiving AC alone (n = 19, 22.1%), those receiving SC alone (n = 27, 31.4%), and those receiving no chemotherapy (n = 29, 33.7%). Median interval from AC to SC was 9.5 months (IQR: 4.7–16.3 months). The baseline characteristics of the patients receiving (n = 30) and not receiving AC (n = 56) were not significantly different with respect to factors evaluated for the SC groups; however, a significantly greater proportion of patients receiving AC had locally advanced disease (86.2% [25/29] vs. 57.4% [31/54], P = 0.008) and lymphovascular invasion (81.5% [22/27] vs. 59.3% [32/54], P = 0.046). In the high-risk group, which was classified in the same way as for the analysis of patients receiving SC or BSC, the CSS was significantly different in the 4 groups. Regardless of AC history, survival duration was longer for patients who received SC than for those who did not receive SC (median CSS: 8.2 months [AC and SC], 9.4 months [SC alone], 3.5 months [AC alone], and 2.4 months [no chemotherapy]; P = 0.002; Fig. 2B). CSS was comparable in the two treatment groups receiving SC, being without a significant difference.