Concurrent chemotherapy is associated with improved survival in elderly patients with bladder cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND

The current study was conducted to compare the overall survival (OS) of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) versus radiotherapy (RT) alone in elderly patients (those aged ≥80 years) with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).

METHODS

Patients aged ≥80 years with cT2-4, N0-3, M0 transitional cell MIBC who were treated with curative RT (60-70 Gray) or CCRT were identified in the National Cancer Data Base. Univariable and multivariable frailty survival analyses, as well as 1-to-1 propensity score matching, were used to isolate the association between CCRT and OS.

RESULTS

A total of 1369 patients who were treated with RT from 2004 through 2013 met eligibility criteria: 739 patients (54%) received RT alone and 630 patients (46%) received CCRT. The median age of the patients was 84 years (range, 80-90 years). The median follow-up was 21 months. The 2-year OS rate was 48%. When comparing CCRT with RT alone, the 2-year OS rate was 56% versus 42% (P<.0001), respectively. Multivariable analysis demonstrated that CCRT (hazard ratio [HR], 0.74; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.65-0.84 [P<.0001]) and a higher RT dose (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.90 [P<.001]) were associated with improved OS. T4 disease was associated with worse OS (HR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.15-1.76 [P = .001]). After using 1-to-1 propensity score matching, there remained an OS benefit for the use of CCRT (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67-0.90 [P<.001]).

CONCLUSIONS

CCRT is associated with improved OS compared with the use of RT alone in elderly patients with MIBC, independent of Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score, suggesting that CCRT should be used in this population. Cancer 2017;123:3524-31. © 2017 American Cancer Society.