A nonrandomized, prospective, clinical study on the impact of circulating tumor cells on outcomes of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder patients treated with radical cystectomy with or without adjuvant chemotherapy

To investigate outcomes of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) patients treated with radical cystectomy (RC) according to the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC) and the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy (AC). We prospectively enrolled 226 UCB patients treated with RC without neoadjuvant chemotherapy at our institution between 2007 and 2013. Blood samples were obtained from all patients preoperatively and analyzed for CTC using the CellSearch(®) system. Platinum-based AC was administered in 50 patients (27.0%). Cox regression models evaluated the association of CTC with disease recurrence, cancer-specific and overall mortality according to AC administration. 185 patients were available for analyses. CTC were present in 41 patients (22.2%). Patients with presence of CTC received AC more frequently, compared to patients without CTC (p = 0.027). At a median follow-up of 31 months, the presence of CTC was associated with disease recurrence, cancer-specific and overall mortality (p-values < 0.001) in patients without AC administration. In patients who received AC, there was no difference in either endpoint between patients with or without presence of CTC. In multivariable analysis of patients without AC administration, the presence of CTC was an independent predictor for disease recurrence (HR: 4.9; p < 0.001), cancer-specific (HR: 4.2; p = 0.003) and overall mortality (HR: 4.2; p = 0.001). The CTC status may be implemented in decision-making regarding AC administration in UCB patients following RC. CTC measurement should be implemented in future UCB studies on systemic chemotherapy to validate our findings.