Neoadjuvant chemotherapy does not increase peri-operative morbidity following radical cystectomy

Objective To determine whether use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is associated with a higher risk of post-operative complications following radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer (BCa). Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed records of patients undergoing RC for non-metastatic urothelial BCa at 13 tertiary care centres from 2007–2019. Patients who received NAC (‘NAC + RC’ group) were compared with those who underwent upfront RC (‘RC alone’ group) for intra-operative variables, incidence of post-operative complications as per the Clavien–Dindo classification (CDC) and rates of re-admission and re-intervention. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of CDC overall and CDC major (grade III–V) complications. We also analysed the trend of NAC utilization over the study period. Results Of the 3113 patients included, 968 (31.1%) received NAC while the remaining 2145 (68.9%) underwent upfront RC for BCa. There was no significant difference between the NAC + RC and RC alone groups with regards to 30-day CDC overall (53.2% vs 54.6%, p = 0.4) and CDC major (15.5% vs 16.5%, p = 0.6) complications. The two groups were comparable for the rate of surgical re-intervention (14.6% in each group) and re-hospitalization (19.6% in NAC + RC vs 17.9% in RC alone, p = 0.2%) at 90 days. On multivariable regression analysis, NAC use was not found to be a significant predictor of 90-day CDC overall (OR 1.02, CI 0.87–1.19, p = 0.7) and CDC major (OR 1.05, CI 0.87–1.26, p = 0.6) complications. We also observed that the rate of NAC utilization increased significantly ( p < 0.001) from 11.1% in 2007 to 41.2% in 2019, reaching a maximum of 48.3% in 2018. Conclusion This large multicentre analysis with a substantial rate of NAC utilization showed that NAC use does not lead to an increased risk of post-operative complications following RC for BCa. This calls for increasing NAC use to allow patients to avail of its proven oncologic benefit.