Cisplatin-ineligible patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer demonstrate poor long-term survival following immediate radical cystectomy.

Abstract

To compare survival and oncological outcomes of cisplatin-ineligible patients (Cis-I) and cisplatin-eligible (Cis-E) patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) undergoing immediate radical cystectomy (IRC), as IRC is currently considered the standard-of-care for Cis-I patients with MIBC. Data from patients with clinical (c)T2-4cN0-1M0 MIBC undergoing IRC, between 2006 and 2021, were retrospectively analysed from four tertiary care centres in the United States. Overall, recurrence-free and event-free survival were described using the Kaplan-Meier method and tested using the log-rank test. For context, we compared survival outcomes against those in Cis-E patients with MIBC undergoing IRC from the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)-8710 trial. Overall, 379 Cis-I and 125 Cis-E patients with cT2-4cN0-1M0 MIBC who underwent IRC were included. Cis-I patients included 44.8% cT3/4 vs 60% cT3/4 in the Cis-E group. Overall, 83.3% of Cis-I and 79.2% of Cis-E patients died during follow-up. The median event-free and overall survival were 12.1 and 14.5 months for the Cis-I group and 28.8 and 60.1 months for the Cis-E group (P < 0.001). [Correction added on 10 October 2025, after first online publication: The preceding sentence has been revised in this version.] Limitations include retrospective comparison of contemporary multi-institutional data with that of a randomised control trial. The Cis-I patients with MIBC undergoing IRC fared poorly, with a median overall survival of 14.5 (95% confidence interval 11.1-17.9) months, mostly due to non-cancer-related deaths. These results provide a benchmark for clinical trials exploring novel agents or alternative chemotherapy regimens in Cis-I patients with MIBC.