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Purpose: Preoperative chemotherapy is underused in conjunction with radical cystectomy (RC) for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) due to concerns for complications and delay of surgery. Prospective data on short-term complications from population-based settings with frequent use of preoperative chemotherapy and standardised reporting of complications is lacking., Methods: We identified 1,340 patients who underwent RC between 2011 and 2015 in Sweden due to MIBC according to the Swedish Cystectomy Register. These individuals were followed through linkages to several national registers. Propensity score adjusted logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for complications and death within 90 days of surgery, comparing patients receiving preoperative chemotherapy or not., Results: Minimum two cycles of preoperative chemotherapy were given to 519 (39%) of the patients, who on average tended to be younger, have higher education, better physical status, and more advanced bladder cancer than patients not receiving chemotherapy. After adjusting for these and other parameters, there was no association between treatment with preoperative chemotherapy and short-term complications (OR 1.06 95% CI 0.82-1.39) or mortality (OR 0.75 95% CI 0.36-1.55). We observed a risk reduction for gastrointestinal complications among patients who received preoperative chemotherapy compared with those who did not (OR 0.49 95% CI 0.30-0.81)., Conclusion: This nation-wide population-based observational study does not suggest that preoperative chemotherapy, in a setting with high utilisation of such treatment, is associated with an increased risk of short-term complications in MIBC patients treated with radical cystectomy.

Objective: To report the 10-year follow-up of a study randomizing between instillations of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and mitomycin-C (MMC) for treating high-risk and not muscle-invasive urinary bladder cancer to assess progression, the need for more aggressive treatment and survival (cancer-specific and overall), as many of the published studies comparing different treatments for disease that is not muscle-invasive have a short follow-up., Patients and Methods: Between 1987 and 1992, 261 patients were included; they had frequently recurring Ta/T1G1-G2, T1G3 or primary Tis-dysplasia. The patients were randomized to treatment with either 40 mg of MMC or 120 mg of BCG (Danish strain 1331) given weekly for 6 weeks, then monthly up to a year and finally every third month for a further year. The 250 evaluable patients were followed using hospital files and national registers on causes of death., Results: The median follow-up for survivors was 123 months. The disease progressed in 58 (23%) of the patients, 34 in the MMC group and 24 in the BCG group (P = 0.26). Of the 140 patients who died, 68 were in the BCG and 72 in the MMC group (log-rank P = 0.98); most (95, 68%) died from other causes., Conclusion: Based on the follow-up of the present patients it cannot be concluded that the drugs originally administered, MMC or BCG, differed in their effect on progression, need for subsequent treatment or survival.