Intravesical combination chemotherapy with mitomycin C and doxorubicin for carcinoma in situ of the bladder.

We treated 30 patients with carcinoma in situ of the bladder via intravesical combination chemotherapy. As an induction therapy 20 mg. mitomycin C on day 1 and 40 mg. doxorubicin on day 2 were instilled into the bladder once a week for 5 consecutive weeks. Patients who achieved complete response were assigned a maintenance instillation of mitomycin C alone every 2 to 4 weeks for 1 year. A total of 19 patients achieved complete response following an initial course of induction therapy and 2 partial responders to initial therapy also achieved complete response after repeated induction therapy, resulting in a 70 per cent over-all complete response rate. Toxicity was considerable with moderate to severe bladder irritation occurring in 20 patients but it was tolerable in the majority. Of 21 complete responses 13 remained free of disease for 6 to 43 months (average of 23 months), 5 had recurrent carcinoma in situ and 1 had invasive urethral cancer. In contrast, of 9 nonresponders 2 and 1 had invasive cancer of the bladder and ureter, respectively.