Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer in Patients With and Without a History of Pelvic Irradiation: Survival Outcomes and Diversion-related Complications

Objective To compare survival outcomes and diversion-related complications of patients with and without a history of pelvic irradiation who underwent radical cystectomy. Patients and Methods Three hundred sixty-four patients underwent radical cystectomy for bladder cancer (BCa) from July 2001 to September 2013. Thirty-seven patients (10%) had a history of pelvic irradiation, and 327 (90%) did not. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression models were applied to evaluate survival outcomes. Diversion-related complications were tabulated. Results The proportion of non–organ-confined disease was numerically higher in irradiated than in nonirradiated patients (18 of 37 [49%] vs 117 of 327 [36%] patients, P  = .1). The difference in the proportion of T4 disease between the 2 groups was statistically significant (13 of 37 [35%] irradiated vs 37 of 327 [11%] nonirradiated patients, P  = .005). Pelvic lymph node dissection could not be performed in 7 of 37 irradiated patients. A nonurothelial carcinoma histology was more frequent in irradiated than in nonirradiated patients (5 of 37 [14%] vs 19 of 327 [6%], P  = .003). At 3 years, BCa recurrence–free survival estimates were 70 ± 9% and 77 ± 3% (log-rank P  = .5), and BCa-specific survival estimates were 64 ± 9% and 69 ± 3% (log-rank P  = .4), for irradiated and nonirradiated patients, respectively. In multivariate analysis, a history of pelvic irradiation was not predictive of BCa recurrence or BCa-specific death. Rates of diversion-related complications did not differ between the 2 groups. Conclusion BCa patients with a history of pelvic irradiation present with more advanced disease. Surgery remains difficult in this group of patients as pelvic lymph node dissection is omitted in approximately 1 of 5 patients. Within limitations, prior pelvic irradiation is not predictive of survival outcomes.