1. A randomized pilot study of high-dose epirubicin as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer of the bilharzial bladder
- Author
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Sanaa Eissa, I. Elattar, M. A. Mansour, I. Magrath, El-Sebai It, N. Gad El Mawla, M.R. Hamza, Hussein M. Khaled, N. Habboubi, and Nehad Mahmoud Ali
- Subjects
Oncology ,Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Pilot Projects ,Gastroenterology ,Postoperative Complications ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Carcinoma ,Humans ,Schistosomiasis ,Radical surgery ,Epirubicin ,Chemotherapy ,Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ,Urinary bladder ,Bladder cancer ,business.industry ,Hematology ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Chemotherapy regimen ,Combined Modality Therapy ,Survival Rate ,Transitional cell carcinoma ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ,Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ,Female ,Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ,business ,medicine.drug ,Follow-Up Studies - Abstract
Summary Seventy-one patients with T2 and T3 bladder cancer were randomized to receive either two courses of epirubicin 120 mg/m2 i.v. push every 21 days pre-operatively, and four additional courses post-operatively (group I=34 patients), or radical surgery (group II=37 patients). At a median follow-up of 24 months (range 22 months to 38 months) 25 patients from group I and 14 patients from group II are still alive and disease-free. The estimated two-year disease-free survival percentages were 73.5 and 37.9%, respectively (P = 0.05). After initial chemotherapy, resected specimens were subjected to histopathological study of chemotherapeutic effects. Necrosis was detected in 95% of cases with squamous cell carcinoma and in 57.3% of cases with transitional cell carcinoma. We conclude that the benefit which was obtained by pre-operative and post-operative chemotherapy with epirubicin is promising and may represent a significant improvement in the treatment of patients with carcinoma of the bilharzial bladder.
- Published
- 1991