Prophylaxis of superficial bladder cancer with instillation of adriamycin or mitomycin C.

A multicenter trial for postoperative prophylaxis of superficial Ta-T1, G1-G2 bladder cancer was performed. Intravesical instillation using either 20-30 mg adriamycin or 20 mg mitomycin C per dose was carried out for 4 weeks or 2 years. Patients without instillation served as controls. A total of 259 patients was considered eligible for the evaluation. The instillation group showed a better disease free survival rate than the control group. Better prophylactic effects of instillation therapy were observed when one of following factors was present: multiple tumors, large tumors, T1 and G2 bladder cancer. The total dose of drug instilled seemed to correlate with the effects, but there were no differences between adriamycin and mitomycin C. The side effects were minimal and temporary.