Conditional survival of patients with urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder treated with radical cystectomy

Aim of studyTo examine the impact of survival probability according to duration of survivorship following radical cystectomy (RC) in patients diagnosed with urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder (UCUB).MethodsOverall, 4991 UCUB patients who underwent RC were abstracted. The cumulative survival estimates were used to generate conditional survival rates. Cox regression analyses were performed for prediction of cancer-specific mortality (CSM), according to duration of survivorship.ResultsThe five-year CSM-free survival rate was 63.9% at RC, and increased to 71.0%, 77.5%, 81.7%, 85.9% and 86.3% in patients who survived ⩾1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively. Patients with pT2–4 disease benefitted from the highest increase in survivorship two years after RC. The same findings were recorded according to patients’ nodal status.ConclusionThe survival of the first two years after RC markedly improves individual patient prognosis. The prognostic gains differ according to patient and tumour characteristics.