Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine, paclitaxel, and cisplatin for urothelial carcinoma.
Methods: Twenty-seven patients with invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelium were treated between 2001 and 2007. All patients received chemotherapy with intravenous gemcitabine at a dose of 1000 mg/mC on Days 1 and 8, intravenous paclitaxel at a dose of 80 mg/mC on Days 1 and 8, and intravenous cisplatin at a dose of 50 mg/mC on Day 2. Treatment courses were repeated every 21 days.
Results: Median follow-up period was 32.5 months. Six patients came to progressive disease. The median overall survival was not reached, and the actuarial 1-year and 2-year survival rates were 89% and 67% respectively. The median progression-free survival was 10.0 months. Median survival time for patients with ECOG status 0, and 1 was 52.0, and 22.0 months respectively. Grade 4 neutropenia occurred in 18.5% of patients, but there was no treatment related mortality.
Conclusions: The combination of gemcitabine, paclitaxel, and cisplatin is a highly effective and tolerable regimen for patients with invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelium. This treatment should be considered as a suitable option that deserves further prospective evaluation. ECOG performance status is an important predictive factors for survival.