Risk of recurrence and long-term mortality following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer

Purpose To investigate the risk of recurrence and long-term mortality after radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer (BC) at a high-volume tertiary referral center in Denmark over 19 years. Materials and methods Patients undergoing RC between the 1st of January 2000 to 31st of December 2018 were included. Patient data were manually retrieved from electronic patient files. Follow-up ended 18th of May 2020. Cumulative incidences were used to assess risk of recurrence and mortality using competing risk modelling. Cause-specific Cox regression models were used for multivariable analysis. Results A total of 1267 patients underwent RC of which 1042 were eligible for analysis. Overall mortality was 40% and 56% after 5 and 10 years, respectively. The cumulative incidence of recurrence and BC specific mortality was high within the first 2 years. Only 3.2% of the patients with recurrence were alive at the end of follow-up. The cumulative incidence of BC mortality after 5 years was 6.7% (95% CI 3.6-9.9) and 10% (95% CI 6.8-14) for patients with <= pT1bN0 and pT2N0, respectively. For patients with lymph node positive disease the cumulative incidence of BC mortality after 5 years was 65% (95% CI 58-71). Conclusions We found a significant risk of recurrence and disease-specific mortality following RC for BC, especially within the first 2 years following surgery. Our data seem comparable to other large cohorts. The chance of long-term survival following recurrence is low and there is a continuous need to improve adjuvant or salvage strategies following RC.