Intravesical
chemotherapy will cause complete regression of existing papillary
tumor in one third to one half of patients. Controlled clinical trials have demonstrated that
chemotherapy reduces the short-term incidence of
tumor recurrence by 15% to 18%, but by 5 years, the number of patients suffering
tumor recurrence is equal to that in patients treated with surgery alone.
Tumor progression cannot occur in the absence of
tumor recurrence, but existing studies of intravesical
chemotherapy have failed to demonstrate significant reduction in
disease progression or mortality rate with treatment.
Immunotherapy has the advantage of a mechanism of action different from that of cytotoxic
chemotherapy.
Immunotherapy with BCG has resulted in complete
tumor regression in one half or more of treated patients with papillary
tumors and in more than 70% of those with CIS. Controlled studies similarly demonstrate a significant reduction in
tumor recurrence, and protection from
tumor recurrence has been observed to persist for 5 years or more. At the present time, data remain limited, but three controlled studies have found statistically significant reductions in the rate of
disease progression, and one has found a significant reduction in the mortality rate, with BCG
immunotherapy. These observations provide convincing evidence that
immunotherapy is the treatment of choice for patients with aggressive superficial
tumors and suggest that the development of immunotherapeutic alternatives to BCG is likely to be rewarding.