[Intra-arterial chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy for invasive bladder cancer and prostate cancer].

Forty-five patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated with intra-arterial doxorubicin chemotherapy plus low-dose radiotherapy between September 1979 and March 1990 were retrospectively studied. Twenty-eight (62%) patients achieved a complete response (CR) and in all of them, a functional bladder could be preserved. The 10-year cause-specific survival rate of patients with CR was 95.5%, but that of patients not achieving a CR was 39%. These results demonstrate that in patients who achieve a CR with this treatment, we may be able to preserve a functional bladder. In a prospective study, we designed a new intra-arterial chemotherapy regimen in order to achieve a higher degree of effectiveness and to preserve a functional bladder. Twenty-three patients were treated with concurrent pirarubicin/cisplatin intra-arterial chemotherapy and radiotherapy after complete transurethral resection. Twenty-one (91%) patients achieved CR. One of these patients had relapse with lung metastases and was treated surgically. Two patients who did not achieve a CR died of cancer, and 21 patients are alive with preservation of functional bladder. For treatment of prostate cancer, we now administer only adjuvant intra-arterial chemotherapy plus irradiation for patients after radical prostatectomy.