Association between radiotherapy and prognosis in patients with small cell carcinoma of the bladder undergoing bladder-sparing surgery

BackgroundSmall cell carcinoma of the bladder is rare and has a poor prognosis. This study aimed to investigate whether radiotherapy after bladder-sparing surgery could improve the survival benefits of patients.MethodsThis population-based retrospective cohort study used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cohort in the United States to investigate small cell carcinoma of the bladder. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify significant risk factors influencing the clinical prognosis. A propensity score matching (PSM) algorithm was used to reduce the interference of confounding factors in each study group. The matched groups underwent Kaplan–Meier survival analysis to assess the potential survival benefits.ResultsUnivariate regression analysis demonstrated that age (P