Intravesical Gemcitabine for Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer after Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Treatment Failure: A Prospective Study.

Abstract

We prospectively enrolled 28 patients with recurrent NMIBC after previous intravesical treatment in the last year who declined or were unsuitable for cystectomy between 2021 and 2023. Gemcitabine at 2,000 mg/100 mL was instilled weekly for 6 weeks. Patients were assessed for response after 8 weeks, with subsequent evaluations scheduled every three months to one year. The findings demonstrated that out of the 28 patients, 20 (71.4%) exhibited a complete response to intravesical gemcitabine treatment, and 8 (28.6%) had no complete response. The average age of the participants was 60.25 years. The study identified significant differences in treatment response based on age but without significant differences based on gender. Furthermore, there was no noteworthy association between tumor stage and grade and treatment response. Moreover, among patients with low-grade tumors, 66.7% achieved a complete response, while 72.7% reached a complete response among those with high-grade tumors. Of the patients who reached a complete response, 28.6% experienced no recurrence during one year of follow-up, and 42.9% developed recurrent disease within one year of treatment initiation. Ten months following treatment, a patient developed muscle-invasive bladder cancer and went on to cystectomy. In conclusion, the results suggest that intravesical gemcitabine could represent a feasible choice for NMIBC patients unresponsive to BCG therapy and ineligible for or unwilling to undergo cystectomy.