UROONKOLOJI BULTENI-BULLETIN OF UROONCOLOGY, vol.23, no.1, pp.22-28, 2024 (ESCI)
Objective: Diagnoses of variant histopathology (VH) in bladder cancer (BC) are increasing, and although there is a standard treatment algorithm for BC, the guidelines lack a standardized approach for treating VH in BC. We aimed to compare the survival results of the treatment algorithm applied to patients with BC with Materials and Methods: We retrospectively assessed data on patients with VH of BC in the first TUR-B between January 2000 and January 2021. After the first TUR-B, we determined TUR-B+/- BCG, radical cystectomy (RC), and trimodal therapy (TMT) as the three potential treatments for patients according to the initial Results: A total of 289 patients with VH of BC in the first TUR-B were included in the study. Their mean age was 66.7 +/- 10.1 years, and most (246, 85.1%) were male. We found that TMT was associated with lower survival, and BCG administration offered no advantage in terms of overall survival (OS) or cancer specific survival (CSS) among patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). In patients with MIBC, immediate RC provided a significant advantage over other Conclusions: There is still no standard treatment for patients with VH of BC. Patients are less likely to survive TMT than other treatment modalities.