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HealthDay News — For patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, undergoing the purified protein derivative skin test prior to bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy may have therapeutic impact, according to a study published in the June issue of The Journal of Urology.
Naoya Niwa, MD, from the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, and colleagues treated 498 patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer with adjuvant bacillus Calmette-Guérin; 320 of the patients underwent the purified protein derivative skin test 1 to 2 weeks before therapy.
The researchers found that the mean ± standard deviation 5-year recurrence-free survival rate was 66.6 ± 2.8% and 59.1 ± 4.1% for patients who did and did not undergo the purified protein derivative skin test, respectively (P=.048). There were no significant differences between the groups in progression-free survival. Significant independent associations with tumor recurrence were seen for a history of recurrence, multiple tumors, the bacillus Calmette-Guérin Connaught strain, seven or more bacillus Calmette-Guérin instillations, and undergoing the purified protein derivative skin test. Overall, 24.1 and 15.2% of patients who did and did not undergo the test, respectively, had major bacillus Calmette-Guérin-related side effects (P=.02).
“Combination therapy with bacillus Calmette-Guérin using the purified protein derivative skin test may improve the oncologic outcomes of that therapy,” the authors write.
