High-dose versus low-dose intravesical interferon-α2b in the treatment of carcinoma in situ

Abstract

Eighty-seven patients with carcinoma in situ of the bladder were randomized to receive either 10 MU (low dose, 38 patients) or 100 MU (high dose, 47 patients) of recombinant interferon-alpha 2b intravesically once weekly for 12 weeks and then monthly for up to 1 year. The 100 MU dose produced a significantly greater incidence of complete responses than the 10 MU dose (43 and 5%, respectively), p less than 0.0001. Adverse effects of treatment were infrequent except for mild-to-moderate flu-like symptoms, which occurred in 8% and 17% of patients from the low- and high-dose groups, respectively.