[Response to adjuvant chemotherapy after radical cystectomy in patients with infiltrative bladder: Analysis of 397 cases].

Objectives: To define the usefulness of adjuvant chemo-therapy in patients with pT2, pN0, pT3-4, pN0 and pN+ disease.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of 397 patients with transitional bladder cancer who underwent radical cys-tectomy between 1986 and 2005. Adjuvant chemo-therapy was administered to 40.2% of patients. Three cycles of adjuvant MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, adriamycin and cisplatin) were given.
Results: In patients with pT3, pN0 (p=0.04) and/or N+ stages (p=0.001), adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved cancer-specific survival, which did not occur in pT2N0 (p=0.9) and pT4, pN0 (p=0.6) patients. In the univariate analysis, adjuvant chemotherapy was significantly associated with a lower cancer-specific survival rate (RR 1.452 95% CI: 1.028- 2.057 p= 0.03), while the multivariate analysis showed a trend (RR: 0.651 95% CI 0.398-1.065, p=0.08) towards a decrease in cancer-specific mortality.
Conclusions: Although adjuvant chemotherapy was not shown to improve survival in patients with pT0-2, pN0 and pT4, pN0 disease, it did increase survival in those with extravesical disease, pathological state T3, pN0 and/or pN+. Considering its tendency to improve cancer-specific survival, adjuvant chemotherapy may be considered as a "protective factor" (RR=0.651, p=0.08).