Is the presence of lymphovascular invasion associated with recurrence and progression in bladder cancer patients that have received adequate BCG therapy?

Introduction and objectives

To investigate whether lymphovascular invasion (LVI) could be a factor in predicting recurrence and progression in patients with high and very high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who received Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) treatment.

Methods

Ninety-three patients with high and very high-risk NMIBC, diagnosed initially in our clinic, were treated with at least 1 year of BCG therapy, and they were followed up to assess recurrence and progression, comparing those with and without lymphovascular invasion (LVI) at the time of diagnosis.

Results

In the entire cohort, LVI was present in 33 (35.5%) patients while absent in 60 (64.5%) patients. Among patients with LVI, 17 (51.5%) showed recurrence, and 11 (33.3%) showed progression. Statistically significant differences were observed in both recurrence and progression in patients with LVI compared to those without LVI (p < 0.001 and 0.04, respectively). Additionally, univariate and multivariate regression analysis revealed that the presence of LVI was an independent factor predicting recurrence (p = 0.001).

Conclusion

In our study, we demonstrated the importance of being cautious regarding recurrence and progression in patients with high and very high-risk NMIBC who also have LVI despite receiving standard treatment. We found that approximately one-third of these patients may experience recurrence within one year.