Comparing oncological outcomes and safety between photodynamic diagnosis-assisted and white-light transurethral resection in elderly patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the prognostic outcomes and risk of adverse events in elderly non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients receiving photodynamic diagnosis-assisted transurethral resection of bladder cancer (PDD-TURBT).

Methods: This study retrospectively included 326 patients who were over 70 years old and received either PDD-TURBT (n = 114, PDD group) or white-light TURBT (n = 212, WL group). Oncological outcomes, namely recurrence-free survival (RFS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and adverse event profiles were compared between the two groups.

Results: In the PDD and WL groups, the median RFS periods were not reached and 41.7 months (P < 0.001), and the median PFS periods were not reached and 160.2 months (P = 0.057), respectively. The Grey test which take account to overall death as a competing risk event revealed recurrence tended to decrease in PDD group (P = 0.050). The independent prognostic factors were determined by multivariate Cox regression analyses: WL-TURBT in RFS. After propensity score matching, statistically favorable RFS in the PDD group were shown (P = 0.018). The incidence of AST/ALT elevation and intraoperative hypotension (defined as systolic blood pressure ≤ 80 mmHg) were significantly higher in the PDD group than in the WL group (P = 0.003 and 0.003, respectively).

Conclusions: Prolonged RFS are expected for PDD-TURBT using oral 5-aminolevulinic acid in elderly NMIBC patients. However, the risks of liver injury and intraoperative hypotension are higher for PDD-TURBT.