Primary Outcome Measures:
- Time to recurrence [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- Toxicity [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
- Worsening-free survival [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
- Sensitivity and specificity of BTA Stat test [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
- Sensitivity and specificity of NMP-22 Bladder Chek [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
OBJECTIVES:
Primary
- Compare the efficacy of a single intravesical instillation of gemcitabine hydrochloride vs placebo immediately after transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT) in preventing recurrence at 2 years in patients with grade 1 or 2 superficial transitional cell cancer of the bladder.
Secondary
- Compare whether a single instillation of intravesical gemcitabine hydrochloride can improve the time to progression to muscle invasive disease vs placebo in these patients.
- Compare the qualitative and quantitative toxicities of these regimens in these patients.
- Compare whether treatment with post-TURBT intravesical instillation of gemcitabine vs placebo results in reduced long-term morbidity in patients, as defined by requirement for fewer TURBTs, courses of traditional intravesical therapies, and surveillance cystoscopies over 4 years.
Tertiary
- Assess whether performing a combination of molecular and/or cytologic diagnostic marker tests, including NMP-22 Bladder Chek and BTA Stat every 3 months, can predict recurrence as accurately as cystoscopy alone in these patients.
OUTLINE: This is a randomized, double-blind, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to disease status (first occurrence vs recurrent disease) and number of tumor sites (1 vs ≥ 2). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.
All patients undergo transurethral resection of the bladder tumor. Within 3 hours, patients receive intravesical therapy according to their randomized arm.
- Arm I: Patients receive intravesical gemcitabine hydrochloride over 1 hour.
- Arm II: Patients receive intravesical placebo over 1 hour. Urine is collected at baseline and then every 3 months for 2 years for research studies including the NMP-22 Bladder Chek and BTA Stat test.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 2 years.
PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 340 patients will be accrued for this study.