Objectives: Herein we present the final results of a prospective randomized study comparing two prophylactic treatment modalities for superficial bladder tumors: chemotherapy with mitomycin C and immunotherapy with interferon.
Methods: The study comprised 65 patients. Mitomycin C was utilized in 34 and interferon in 31 patients.
Results: The mitomycin C-treated patients had 41% recurrence, 1.7 recurrence/100 patients-month, 17 months mean time to recurrence and 8.8% tumor progression. The patients receiving interferon had 45% recurrence, 2.4 recurrence/100 patients-month, 12 months mean time to recurrence and 22.2% tumor progression rate. No significant differences were observed between the two groups of patients. Treatment was well-tolerated by both groups and the cost:efficacy ratio was higher for the interferon-treated patients.
Conclusions: Immunoprophylaxis with interferon is as effective, but costs more than chemoprophylaxis with mitomycin C. Both agents have a moderate effect relative to control of recurrence, time to recurrence and tumor progression.