TY - JOUR T1 - Survival Benefit for Patients With Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Receiving Continuous Maintenance Chemotherapy JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 1249 LP - 1262 DO - 10.21873/invivo.11597 VL - 33 IS - 4 AU - CHUANG-CHI LIAW AU - TZU-YAO LIAO AU - KE-HUNG TSUI AU - YU-HSIANG JUAN Y1 - 2019/07/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/33/4/1249.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: Urothelial carcinoma is a chemo-sensitive cancer. We investigated the contributory factors to survival benefit of metastatic urothelial carcinoma (MUC) patients receiving continuous maintenance chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: Inclusion criteria were: i) pathology-confirmed urothelial carcinoma, ii) metastatic lesions identified mainly on pre-therapy computed tomography (CT) scans, and iii) inpatient-administered chemotherapy of at least three cycles. Chemotherapy regimens included 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, cisplatin, and gemcitabine. Results: A total of 139 cases were enrolled in this study. The overall objective response rate was 60% and the median survival time was 17 months. Eight-two (59%) patients had inflammation-related symptoms following the course of chemotherapy. Fifty-five (41%) patients survived more than two years. All patients exhibited various fibrosis formations. No patient experienced unfavorable metastatic conditions. Inflammation-related symptoms remained in 28 (51%) patients. We found that surgery, invasive procedures, and infection likely led to a rapid tumor progression. Conclusion: Continuous maintenance chemotherapy targeting chemo-sensitive tumors, administered at metronomic intervals and focus on tumor microenvironment, can increase MUC survival benefits. ER -