Prospective Multicentric Evaluation of a Bladder Preservation Strategy

Overview

Radical cystectomy is the treatment of choice for bladder infiltrative urothelium carcinoma. But the removal of the bladder reservoir has a major impact of the Quality of life. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to be associated with an absolute 5% survival benefit. Two monocentric studies suggest that this neoadjuvant chemotherapy could be used in combination with an optimal transurethral bladder resection, in a strategy of bladder preservation, provided a complete response being obtained (about 50% in every trial using neoadjuvant MVAC protocol before a radical cystectomy). In those both studies with patients T2 to T4, the 5 years overall survival is above 65%, with more than 40% bladder preservation rate at 5 years. The feasibility and the efficacy of such an attitude in a multicentric trail using the most active regimen (in term of complete response in metastatic patients) is unknown. The chosen regimen is therefore the intensified MVAC which allows, with the use of G-CSF, to double the dose-intensity of Adriamycin and Cisplatinum, and to decrease by 30% the methotrexate and vinblastine dose-intensity. The efficacy and safety confirmation of such an approach could lead to consider it in patients motivated to retain a functional bladder.

Every patient having signed the inform consent will have the following steps Maximal and optimal TURB using a standardized procedure. The TURB will always try to be optically complete. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for 3 months with the intensified MVAC (6 cycles administered every 2 weeks): METHOREXATE: 30 mg/m2 D1 - VINBLASTINE: 3 mg/m2 D2 - ADRIAMYCINE 30 mg/m2 D2 - CISPLATINE 70 mg/m2 D2. + G-CSF: 5 µg/kg from D4 to D10 New maximal standardized TURB at the end of the chemotherapy. In case of a lesion localized at the bladder dome, and if a maximal TURB appears to be unsafe, a partial cystectomy without lymph node dissection will be performed. If a complete response is obtained (no tumor cells in the bladder muscle on the last TURB), a surveillance will be proposed without any further treatment. Otherwise (tumor cells in the bladder muscle at the second TURB), a radical cystectomy will be done. If the balder is spared, the follow up will be as follow: clinical examination, CT, bladder endoscopy and urinary cytology every 6 months. The possible non muscle infiltrative bladder relapses will be treated according