The Effect of Adding an Initial Dose of Mitomycin C into the Ve-sicular Delayed Six-Week Treatment in Patients with Superficial Bladder Cancer

Bladder tumors have a high incidence and despite being superficial in a majority of cases, the amount their relapse after transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) surgery is high. Treatment after TURBT with in vesicular methods is a way to overcome relapse. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of implementation of adding a dose of mitomycin into the vesicular delayed six-week treatment of patients with superficial bladder cancer on the rate and degree of tumor recurrence in patients referred to Alzahra and Noor hospitals in Isfahan. In this prospective study, patients with superficial bladder tumors were selected and randomly devided in one of case or control groups. The sample size for each group was 18 patients. Patients in case group received a dose of mitomycin C after TURBT; then, both groups underwent delayed six-week treatment. Results in terms of numbers, time, grade, and stage of recurrence were analyzed using chi-square, Mann-Whitney, and Independent-t tests. 33.3% of patients in case group and 66.7% of controls experienced relaps (P = 0.04). The grade of relapsed tumor was significantly difference between the two groups (P = 0.001). The mean frequency of relapse was 0.5 ± 0.78 in case group and 1.1 ± 1.0 in control group (P = 0.04). The stage of relapsed tumors in the control group with the larger proportion was of type T1 (P = 0.006) but the time of relapse was not significantly difference between groups (P = 0.09). The relapse time was 12.5 ± 14.1 months in case group and 6.7 ± 3.7 months in control group. Considering the reduced number, stage, and grade of relapse in case group, the positive effect of immediately mitomycin after TURBT was proved. Studies with more patients and further follow-up period are necessary to review late relapses.