Abstract
In recent years, intravesical chemotherapy has been performed for bladder cancer after transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TUR-Bt). The initial intravesical treatment with chemotherapeutic agents is performed during hospitalization, and further intravesical treatments are administered in the outpatient clinic. The intravesical agents are usually BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) which is given as a course of 8 treatments once weekly and pirarubicin which is given as a course of 10 treatments once weekly. To obtain information on subjective adverse effects for these intravesical chemotherapy regimens, a retrospective investigation comparing the subjective adverse effects per number of treatments, and the accomplishment rate and achievement rate for one course of therapy with BCG (n=9) or pirarubicin (n=21) was conducted over a two-year period using medical records and nursing records. While the accomplishment rate for pirarubicin therapy was higher than that for BCG therapy, there was no significant difference in the achievement rate between the two chemotherapy regimens. Some patients receiving BCG therapy developed fever but none on pirarubicin therapy did. Information on patients' subjective symptoms such as headache, nausea and constipation was obtained directly from the patients using an outpatient guidance sheet on which they checked the subjective adverse effects due to the intravesical chemotherapy. It seemed that the outpatient guidance sheet had made a positive contribution to the management of intravesical chemotherapy for bladder cancer.
