Comparing Prognosis Associated with Partial Cystectomy and Trimodal Therapy for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the survival outcomes between trimodal therapy (TT) and partial cystectomy (PC) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients. METHODS The data of 13,096 patients with MIBC diagnosed between 2004 and 2015 were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Among them, 4,041 patients underwent TT and 1,670 patients underwent PC. Propensity score matching was performed to balance the characteristics between the 2 treatment groups. A multivariate Cox regression analysis model and a competing risk model were used to evaluate overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival. Cumulative incidence survival curves were obtained using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS Results of multivariate Cox analysis before propensity score matching showed that the TT group had a 31% reduction in cause-specific survival relative to the PC group (HR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.61-0.78, p < 0.001) and a 28% reduction in OS (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.66-0.79, p < 0.001). After propensity score matching, the 2 groups yielded 972 patients, with 3-year cause-specific survival rates of 54.1% and 68.5% in the TT group and the PC group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Patients who underwent PC had a better prognosis than those who received TT. In addition, for MIBC patients who required bladder-sparing therapy, advanced age (≥80 years), pathological type of squamous cell carcinoma, and tumor stage of T3-4, N2-3, and M1 were independent poor prognostic factors.