Salvage cystectomy for bladder cancer after failure of definitive irradiation.

Selected patients in whom definitive external irradiation fails to control bladder cancer can potentially be salvaged by cystectomy. Before 1974, 189 patients at our cancer center underwent salvage cystectomy. The over-all 5-year survival rate was 37 per cent and the postoperative hospital mortality rate was 5 per cent. Infectious complications developed in a third of the patients and ureteroileal urine leak developed in 8 per cent but the incidence of other complications was not dissimilar to that after radical cystectomy without prior large dose irradiation.