Prognostic significance of non-muscle-invasive late recurrence after intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy in bladder cancer: a multicenter, retrospective real-world study (the Japan Urological Oncology Group).

Authors

Yoshinori Ikehata, Naotaka Nishiyama, Makito Miyake, Nobutaka Nishimura, Kita Yuki, Soichiro Shimura, Yuta Inoue, Takashi Matsumoto, Shugo Yajima, Yoshiyuki Nagumo, Shuichi Morizane, Takuma Sato, Masato Fujii, Tomokazu Sazuka, Shingo Hatakeyama, Katsuyoshi Hashine, Atsushi Yamagishi, Rikiya Taoka, Yoshiyuki Matsui, Kiyohide Fujimoto, Hiroyuki Nishiyama, Keiichiro Mori, Takahiro Kimura, Hiroshi Kitamura, Japanese Urological Oncology Group

Published in

Japanese journal of clinical oncology. Aug 07, 2026. Epub Aug 07, 2026.

Abstract

The prognostic significance of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) recurrence after a prolonged disease-free interval following intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy remains unclear. This multicenter study evaluated the impact of late recurrence after BCG therapy on oncological outcomes.
This retrospective multicenter study used the Japan Urological Oncology Group database. Among 3226 patients treated with intravesical BCG for NMIBC, 238 with non-muscle-invasive intravesical recurrence ≥1 year after initial BCG therapy were analyzed, after excluding those with muscle-invasive recurrence at first recurrence. Patients were stratified by time to recurrence: 1-2 years and ≥ 2 years. Progression-free survival (PFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses.
During a median follow-up of 72.7 months, the 5-year PFS and CSS rates were 90.8% and 91.5%, respectively. PFS did not differ significantly between the 1-2-year and ≥ 2-year recurrence groups (log-rank p = 0.300). In contrast, recurrence ≥2 years was associated with significantly worse CSS than recurrence at 1-2 years (log-rank P = .018) and was a significant predictor of worse CSS in univariate analysis (hazard ratio, 8.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-62.6; P = .047). Repeat BCG therapy did not significantly improve PFS or CSS in patients with recurrence ≥2 years.
NMIBC recurrence occurring ≥2 years after initial BCG therapy may be associated with poorer cancer-specific survival despite similar progression-free survival. Late recurrence should not automatically be considered a favorable prognostic subgroup, and careful surveillance and risk stratification are warranted.

PMID:
42565671
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 07 Aug 2026.

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