Sequential Intravesical Gemcitabine and Docetaxel is an Alternative to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin for the Treatment of Intermediate-risk Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer

Adjuvant treatment with either chemotherapy or bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is recommended for patients with intermediate-risk (IR) non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). In this multi-institutional retrospective review, we evaluated oncological outcomes for 182 patients with IR-NMIBC treated with BCG (n = 100) or intravesical sequential gemcitabine and docetaxel (Gem/Doce; n = 82). Median follow-up was 48.6 mo (interquartile range 24.9-70.9). No patient had a previous diagnosis of high-grade disease. Recurrence rates were similar in the two treatment groups (hazard ratio [HR] 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-1.73; p = 0.8). Results were consistent after adjusting for International Bladder Cancer Group (IBCG) risk subgroups, use of single-instillation postoperative chemotherapy, use of blue light cystoscopy, and receipt of maintenance therapy (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.47-1.64; p = 0.7). Similarly, there was no difference in the rate of stage/grade progression between the treatment groups (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.21-2.12; p = 0.5). Rates of progression to muscle-invasive disease/metastasis (2.2%) and cancer-specific mortality (1.7%) were low in the cohort. Our results support the use of Gem/Doce as an alternative to BCG in patients with IR-NMIBC. PATIENT SUMMARY: We compared cancer control outcomes for two different treatments for intermediate-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Our results show that a chemotherapy combination of docetaxel and gemcitabine is as effective as the BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) treatment traditionally used for this type of bladder cancer.