Treatment of superficial bladder cancer with intravesical perfusion of rIL-2: a follow-up study.

We have recently reported the results of a phase I study on the intravesical perfusion of recombinant interleukin-2 in patients with superficial bladder cancer. The treatment feasible with mild toxic effects, especially compared with the treatment using TUR and instillations of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin. The follow-up of these phase I study patients was continued for another twelve months. During this period, cytoscopy and cytological examination of cells washed from bladder were performed every four months. The results showed that three out of 9 patients relapsed, over a period ranging from 6 to 20 months after treatment. All these data clearly confirm that the intravesical perfusion of rIL-2 is feasible, safe and should be an effective and nontoxic treatment of patients with superficial bladder cancer.