Medline ® Abstract for Reference 70

Side-effects are commonly manifested during intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy of superficial bladder cancer. This often causes delays or interruptions of the instillations and consequently reduces the efficacy of treatment. Treatment strategies aimed at reducing the side-effects of BCG immunotherapy while maintaining efficacy are currently being considered in the search for an optimal treatment regimen. The following two approaches to BCG immunotherapy were investigated at the Department of Urology of Padova University by specific Phase II and III trials designed to evaluate the possibility of reducing BCG-related side-effects without compromising therapeutic efficacy: (1) by reducing the dose of BCG per instillation 'low-dose' regimen, (2) by delaying the interval of the instillations 'slow-rate' regimen.