Intravesical Versus Intravesical Plus Intradermal Bacillus Calmette-Guerin: A Prospective Randomized Study In Patient With Recurrent Superficial Bladder Tumors

Abstract

The therapeutic benefit from intravesical BCG apparently was not substantially improved by simultaneous intradermal BCG vaccination. Fever following intravesical BCG instillation is an important prognostic factor regarding superficial bladder tumor recurrence. Fever occurs predominantly in patients who were previously sensitized to mycobacteria (by BCG vaccination or infection) as shown by a positive pretreatment purified protein derivative skin test. This finding suggests that previously sensitized patients respond significantly better to a single course of intravesical BCG.