Active Surveillance Versus Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin for High-grade T1 Bladder Cancer with Negative Second Transurethral Resection: The Randomized Noninferiority Phase 3 JCOG1019 Trial

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the noninferiority of active surveillance (AS) in comparison to intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in terms of recurrence and progression for patients with high-grade T1 (HG T1) bladder cancer at initial transurethral resection of the bladder (TURB) and no residual tumor at second TURB. METHODS: After initial evaluation, participants diagnosed with HG T1 bladder cancer who had undergone complete eradication of visible tumors underwent a second TURB. Those with specimens showing T0 were randomized to either AS or to intravesical BCG for 8 wk without maintenance therapy. The primary endpoint was invasive relapse-free survival (iRFS). KEY FINDINGS AND LIMITATIONS: In total, 513 participants were enrolled in the initial evaluation. After second TURB, 263 participants were enrolled and randomized. AS was noninferior to BCG in terms of iRFS (hazard ratio 0.69, 90% confidence interval 0.44-1.08; p = 0.001). Rates of adverse events were 50% and 90% for any grade, and in 3.1% and 3.8% for grade ≥3 events in the AS and BCG arms, respectively. The protocol treatment in the control arm was not the current standard. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: In this highly selected patient population, AS was noninferior to eight-dose intravesical BCG induction therapy in terms of iRFS for T1 disease or deeper intravesical and/or extravesical recurrence. The safety profile of AS was better than that of BCG. These findings indicate that AS represents a potentially viable therapeutic strategy for selected patients with HG T1 bladder cancer for whom second TURB demonstrates the absence of residual disease.