Neoadjuvant Radiotherapy Improves Survival in Patients with T2b/T3 Bladder Cancer: A Population-Based Analysis

Background Neoadjuvant radiotherapy (NART) for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is currently underused. However, the outcomes for MIBC have remained suboptimal. We investigated the relationship of NART to cause-specific mortality (CSM) and overall mortality (OM) among patients with a diagnosis of MIBC. Materials and Methods The patients diagnosed with primary invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder from 1983 to 2008 with localized disease were included. Patients aged > 90 years, those diagnosed with T1 or T4 BC, and those with no information on tumor grade were excluded from the analysis. Kaplan-Meier, Cox regression, and competing risk methods were used in the analysis of OM and CSM. Results A total of 5562 patients were included in the cohort (115 NART and 5447 surgery alone). On univariate analysis, NART significantly decreased the OM for patients with high-grade BC (hazard ratio [HR], 0.8), stage T2b (HR, 0.74), and stage T2b/T3 (HR, 0.74). CSM was also lower for those with stage T2b disease (HR, 0.63). Multivariable analysis revealed that NART was associated with a significant decrease in CSM (P =.043) and OM (P =.0462) for those with T2b. Likewise, an improvement was seen in OM (P =.0337) for patients with T2b/T3 who had received NART. Conclusion NART was significantly associated with decreased CSM and OM in patients with clinical T2b/T3 BC and OM for patients with T2b/T3. These data suggest that NART could be beneficial in patients with T2b/T3 BC. In the modern era, the greatest utility would potentially be for patients with an incomplete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy or as an adjunct to chemotherapy to improve the complete response rates.