Clinically node-positive bladder cancer: Oncological results of induction chemotherapy and consolidative surgery

Patients with clinically node-positive bladder cancer have a poor prognosis, with many receiving only palliative chemo- therapy. We evaluated oncological results in bladder cancer patients with clinically regional and supraregional lymph- adenopathy treated with induction chemotherapy (IC) and consolidative cystectomy. Twenty-five patients with clinically node-positive bladder cancer (including pelvic and retroperitoneal nodes) were treated with 2-4 cycles of IC followed by consolidative cystectomy between 2010 and 2016. Pathologic complete response (pCR) was defined as no residual tumor in the final specimen (ypT0N0).The 3-year cancer-specific (CSS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) for the whole cohort were 52% and 39%, respectively. The 3-year RFS differed according to volume of nodal metastases, the rates were 56% for minimal nodal disease (cN1) versus 33% for cN2-3 and 0% for cM1 disease (p