Prognostic value of cystocopically pseudotumoral lesions (inflammation/granuloma) in primary stage T1 grade 3 bladder tumors treated with BCG.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to find out whether the pseudotumoral lesions (inflammation/granuloma) seen at the follow-up cystoscopy performed three to six months after transurethral resection of primary stage T1 grade 3 bladder tumor and instillations of BCG therapy might have some prognostic value as far as recurrence and/or long term progression are concerned.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

From the first group of one hundred and thirteen patients with primary stage of T1 grade 3 bladder tumor treated with 81 mg of BCG Connaught (weekly/during six weeks), those with recurrent tumor at the 3rd and 6th month were excluded, so we evaluated 99 patients. We identified 13 patients with cystoscopically pseudotumoral lesions.

RESULTS

of the 13 cystoscopically pseudotumoral lesions, we observed recurrence in two cases (15%), while among the rest of the 86 patients, we observed 22 recurrences (26%) (p = 0.9; not significant). Concerning progression, eight cases were reported out of 86 patients (9%) within the cistocopically normal group. No cases of progression were reported among the 13 patients with cystoscopically pseudotumoral lesions. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.5).

CONCLUSIONS

The patients with cystoscopically pseudotumoral lesions (inflammation/granuloma) are a reduced group (13%) with less tendency to recurrence and without progression, even though this relationship is not significant.