Dissecting outcomes of patients (pts) with <ypT2N0 disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC): Results from a large, international, multicenter collaboration.

Abstract

5043 Background: Pathologic complete response (pCR) after NAC for MIBC is strongly correlated with long-term overall survival. However, there are sparse data on the risk of recurrence based on depth of pathologic response (pT0, pTa, pTis, pT1), and the differential impact of clinicopathologic factors and NAC regimen on recurrence. Methods: Baseline data on all pts with cT2-4N0-1 MIBC receiving NAC and who achieved < ypT2N0 disease at radical cystectomy (RC) from 9 international centers were obtained. The key outcome was time to recurrence (TTR) – defined as the time to any recurrence in the urinary tract or regional/distant metastasis, with death (in the absence of recurrence) considered a competing risk. Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the impact of clinical factors on recurrence. Results: A total of 506 pts were available. Median age was 66 years (range 33-86) and 78% (n = 396) were male; median follow-up after RC was 2.6 years. The majority of patients had pure urothelial histology (n = 371, 73%), and baseline stage was cT2N0 (n = 368, 73%), cT3-4N0 (n = 95, 19%) and TanyN1 (n = 43, 9%). NAC regimens were gemcitabine-cisplatin (GC, n = 296, 59%), dose-dense methotrexate-vinblastine-doxorubicin-cisplatin (ddMVAC, n = 141, 28%), split-dose GC (n = 29, 6%), MVAC (n = 29, 6%) and non-cisplatin based regimens (n = 11, 2%). At RC, 304 patients (60%) had ypT0N0 disease, 32 (6%) had ypTaN0, 107 (21%) had ypTisN0 and 63 (13%) had ypT1N0. Overall, 43 patients (8%) recurred with a median TTR of 56 weeks (range 7-251); 5-year freedom from recurrence was 87% (95% CI 83-91). The majority (n = 38) recurred outside the urinary tract. On multivariable analysis, ypTa (HR = 3.36 [1.24-9.11]) and ypT1 (HR = 2.88 [1.33-6.22], p = 0.013) disease at RC were predictors of shorter TTR, while female sex was associated with longer TTR (HR = 0.52 [0.27-0.98], p = 0.043). The type of NAC was not predictive of TTR (GC vs. other, HR = 1.49 [0.75-2.97], p = 0.26). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the largest study to quantify the risk of recurrence in pts achieving pathologic response after NAC and RC for MIBC. 8% of patients undergoing NAC and achieving < ypT2N0 at RC recurred. Residual ypTa and ypT1 disease conferred a significantly higher risk of recurrence, while ypTis did not; female sex was associated with a lower risk of recurrence. Importantly, the type of cisplatin-based NAC regimen used was not an independent predictor of recurrence.