[The use of BCG vaccine in the treatment of surface tumors of the bladder].

The paper presented results of the treatment of 110 patients with vesical surface tumors, 85 of them were postoperatively treated according to the regime suggested by Adolphs and Bastian and slightly modified for patients with relapsing vesical tumors. For the therapeutic or preventive effect (after TUR or transvesical electrical resection of the urinary bladder surface tumors), the authors used for 6 weeks after the operation intravesical instillations of BCG vaccine ("Calgevax", Bulgarian production) in a weekly dose of 120 mg per 50 ml of the serum. Previously, for this purpose intravenous injections of cyclophosphamide had been routinely used in a dose of 700 mg/m2 during 2 postsurgery weeks. Intracutaneous vaccinations were performed simultaneously. The follow-up which lasted from 18 to 48 months revealed tumor relapses only in 26 per cent of those under study. The patients with relapses were repeatedly operated on, but their postsurgical management was modified: 2 intravesical instillations of 120 mg of BCG vaccine during the first month after the surgery and then monthly instillations of the same dosages for the whole of the year followed. A subsequent 14-26-month follow-up revealed no relapse of the tumors. The authors concluded that the use of BCG vaccine was a practicable part of the combined treatment of patients with vesical surface tumors.