A population-based study of patterns of care for muscle-invasive bladder cancer in Sweden

Objective. To analyse the management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer in a population-based national register, and specifically to investigate the role of curative therapy (i.e. cystectomy or radiotherapy) in relation to patient, tumour and hospital characteristics. Material and methods. The Swedish Bladder Cancer Register covers more than 90% of all patients in the country who have been diagnosed with such disease since 1997. Results from 1997-2003 were analysed regarding curative-intent treatment given within 3-6 months of diagnosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Results. In total, 3463 patients with clinical T2-T4 bladder cancer were included in the analysis. Of those patients, 1426 (41%) received curative-intent treatment in the form of radiotherapy (285, 20%) or cystectomy (1141, 80%). Male gender, age < 76 years, favourable TNM category and registration at a high-volume hospital were associated with such treatment. Curative-intent treatment was given to significantly more patients registered at high-volume hospitals (1003/2227, 45%) than at low-volume hospitals (423/1235, 34%) ( 2=37.7, p