ISSN 0391-5603
© 2016 Wichtg Publishing
UJ
Urologia ( 2016; Suppl 2 ): S24-S28 83
REVIEW
Both Guidelines of the European Associaton of Urology
and American Associaton of Urology for the treatment of
low-risk bladder cancer recommend that all patents receive
one immediate instllaton of chemotherapy afer transure-
thral resecton.
The optmal dose and concentraton of this drug remain
unknown, and generally, it is administered as a dose of 40 mg
in 40 ml of sterile water within 24 hours afer the resecton.
In patents with a higher risk of recurrence, further intra-
vesical adjuvant treatment is needed, with MMC or Bacillus
of Calmete and Guerìn (BCG) according to the risk classifca-
ton of recurrence and progression.
Even for adjuvant therapy, the optmal dose is stll not
well defned, as well as the number of instllaton, but a usual
scheme of MMC administraton has remained unchanged
over the years: 40 mg in 40 ml of sterile water, one instllaton
per week for 4-8 weeks, with a possible maintenance treat-
ment (2).
Meta-analyses have shown that intravesical chemotherapy
reduces the recurrence rate as compared with transurethral
bladder resecton (TUR-B) alone (3-5), with a decrease of 8% in
the percentage of patents who have recurrence.
DOI: 10.5301/uro.5000193
Mitomycin C: new strategies to improve efcacy of a
well-known therapy
Mauro Ragonese, Marco Racioppi, Pier Francesco Bassi, Luca Di Gianfrancesco, Niccolò Lenci, Alessio Filianot,
Salvatore M. Recupero
Department of Urology, Agostno Gemelli Hospital, Catholic University Medical School, Rome - Italy
Introducton
Mitomycin C (MMC) is a chemotherapeutc agent used for
intravesical therapy in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer
(NMIBC) to reduce the risk of recurrence, which is high in this
disease.
Given its efcacy and the possibility to use this agent intra-
vesically, avoiding the systemic side efects, it is widely used
as an adjuvant treatment afer transurethral tumor resecton.
It provides valid clinical outcome at the expense of limited
local and systemic toxicity given its high molecular weight and
its hydrophobicity (1).
ABSTRACT
Mitomycin C (MMC) as an intravesical chemotherapeutc agent is a well-known opton for treatment of non-
muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) recurrence; it is probably the most commonly used agent given its low
rate of side efects and its efcacy.
Both the American Urologic Associaton (AUA) and European Associaton of Urology (EAU) consider MMC as
a standard treatment for immediate single-dose postoperatve treatment and for adjuvant therapy in low and
intermediate-risk NMIBC.
Despite the popularity of this agent in the treatment of NMIBCs, many questons regarding the optmal approach
to MMC therapy remain unanswered and the schedule widely used is empirical.
Nevertheless, even when the current optmal approaches to MMC administraton are used, a large proporton of
NMIBCs recur.
This apparent treatment resistance might be overcome by an optmizaton of standard MMC therapy or with a
combinaton of MMC with other agents that have diferent mechanisms of acton.
Strategies to enhance passive delivery of MMC have been well studied and multple measures are recommended
for implementaton of use in routne clinical practce.
A modifed scheme of instllaton seems to be an easy and inexpensive alternatve to increase efcacy of intravesi-
cal MMC and to also use this agent with an ablatve intent.
Enhancing tumor response with a sequental therapy is another opton that has been investgated, mostly for
chemo-immunotherapy wherein the diferent mechanisms of acton of Bacillus of Calmete and Guerìn (BCG) and
MMC are combined to achieve a higher response.
Keywords: Combinaton therapy, Intensive treatment, Intravesical therapy, Mitomycin C, Nonmuscle invasive
bladder cancer
Accepted: August 19, 2016
Published online: October 1, 2016
Corresponding author:
Mauro Ragonese, MD
A. Gemelli Foundaton Hospital
Largo Agostno Vito 1
00168 Roma, Italy
mauroragonese@yahoo.it