Treatment strategy for bladder cancer in patients on hemodialysis: a clinical review of 28 cases.

Abstract

To clarify the background, clinical symptoms, pathological characteristics, and duration of survival in patients with bladder cancer on hemodialysis and to examine the appropriate treatment strategies. Between April 1988 and May 2012, 28 patients in whom bladder cancer was diagnosed and treated after dialysis was initiated were included in this retrospective study. We examined the clinicopathological characteristics and survival. Twenty men and 8 women were included (mean age 64.1 ± 11.9 years). The mean duration of dialysis was 80.2 ± 79.1 months. The duration of follow-up after treatment was 43.9 ± 41.2 months. Fourteen patients underwent immediate total cystectomy after the diagnosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer or high-grade pT1 tumors. Of these, four died of cancer and two had surgery-related deaths. Fourteen patients underwent transurethral resection, and the initial diagnosis was non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Of these, three underwent delayed total cystectomy because the time to recurrence was short or there were multiple intravesical recurrences; none died of cancer. The duration of hemodialysis tended to be longer in patients who underwent immediate total cystectomy than in those who underwent only transurethral resection or delayed total cystectomy (107.1 ± 92.0 vs. 53.3 ± 63.9 months, p = 0.10). Bladder cancer in hemodialysis patients can be treated using the same strategy as for the general population. Bladder cancer in longer-term hemodialysis patients tends to be pathologically more advanced; thus, total cystectomy, although highly invasive, is often needed. Establishing bladder cancer screening for patients on dialysis is desirable.