Between January 1981 and March 1988, we prospectively treated 49 patients with infiltrating bladder cancer (Stages B2, C and D1 of the classification of Marshall or pT3-T4, No/N+ of the UICC classification) by adjuvant combination chemotherapy with Adriamycin and Cisplatin. Chemotherapy started 4 to 8 weeks after radical surgery with total prostatocystectomy in males or anterior pelvectomy in females associated in all cases with bilateral ilio-obturator pelvic lymph node dissection. With a mean follow up of 34 months (3 to 85 months) 32 patients are still alive and disease free (17/23 stage B2, 8/15 stage C, and 7/11 stage D1). The crude disease free survival is 76%, 49% and 25% for stages B2, C and D1 respectively. These results seem better than those reported with radical surgery alone and encourage the adoption of adjuvant chemotherapy to improve survival in patients with infiltrating bladder cancer.