There is uncertainty regarding the use of bladder-sparing alternatives to standard radical cystectomy, optimal lymph node dissection techniques, and optimal chemotherapeutic regimens. This study was conducted to systematically review the benefits and harms of bladder-sparing therapies, lymph node dissection, and systemic chemotherapy for patients with clinically localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Systematic literature searches of MEDLINE (from 1990 through October 2014), the Cochrane databases, reference lists, and the ClinicalTrials.gov Web site were performed. A total of 41 articles were selected for review. Bladder-sparing therapies were found to be associated with worse survival compared with radical cystectomy, although the studies had serious methodological shortcomings, findings were inconsistent, and only a few studies evaluated currently recommended techniques. More extensive lymph node dissection might be more effective than less extensive dissection at improving survival and decreasing local disease recurrence, but there were methodological shortcomings and some inconsistency. Six randomized trials found cisplatin-based combination neoadjuvant chemotherapy to be associated with a decreased mortality risk versus cystectomy alone. Four randomized trials found adjuvant chemotherapy to be associated with decreased mortality versus cystectomy alone, but none of these trials reported a statistically significant effect. There was insufficient evidence to determine optimal chemotherapeutic regimens. Cancer 2016;122:842-51. V C 2016 American Cancer Society.KEYWORDS: adjuvant chemotherapy, bladder cancer, bladder-sparing therapy, lymph node dissection, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, radical cystectomy.
INTRODUCTIONBladder cancer reportedly affected nearly 75,000 Americans in 2014. 1 Bladder cancer that invades muscle (classified as T2 using the American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM staging system) can rapidly progress and metastasize, and is associated with a poor prognosis. 2 Approximately 30% of newly diagnosed bladder cancers present as muscle-invasive. 3 For clinically localized (T2-T4a) muscle-invasive bladder cancer in patients with adequate renal function, standard treatment is neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy with a platinum-based regimen followed by radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. 4 Regional lymph node dissection is recommended in conjunction with cystectomy. Because cystectomy necessitates reconstruction with a urinary diversion, bladder-sparing alternatives that include external beam radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy, partial cystectomy, and maximal transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) 5 have been evaluated as alternative options. Other therapeutic considerations include the role of adjuvant (administered after surgery) chemotherapy (AC), the optimal extent of lymph node dissection, and which specific chemotherapy regimen to select.Given the uncertainty regarding the comparative effectiveness of therapies for clinically localized, muscle-invasive bladder cancer, we c...