A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Incidence of and mortality from Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) infections after BCG instillation therapy




AuthorsNurminen Pertti, Ettala Otto, Uusitalo-Seppälä Raija, Nummi Antti, Järvinen Riikka, Antti Kaipia, Boström Peter J

PublisherWILEY

Publication year2022

JournalBJU International

Journal name in sourceBJU INTERNATIONAL

Journal acronymBJU INT

Volume129

Issue6

First page 737

Last page743

Number of pages7

ISSN1464-4096

eISSN1464-410X

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1111/bju.15608


Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the incidence of and mortality associated with Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) infections in a Finnish population of patients with bladder cancer treated with BCG instillations.

Materials and Methods

We conducted a nationwide register study and identified patients with BCG infections in Finland during 1996 to 2016 using the Finnish Cancer Registry and the Finnish National Infectious Diseases Register. We estimated the number of patients treated with BCG instillations based on data on national consumed BCG doses used to treat patients with bladder cancer, and calculated the annual incidence proportion of BCG infections. We further performed a detailed medical chart review to describe the clinical features and outcomes of the treated BCG infections.

Results

In total, 87 patients with BCG infection after BCG treatment of bladder cancer were identified. The incidence proportion increased gradually, yielding a cumulative incidence proportion of 2.5% during the latter half of the study period. BCG infections led to significant mortality, with 10% overall mortality and 17.5% mortality from systemic infections, which is notably higher than previously reported.

Conclusion

The incidence proportion of BCG infections among bladder cancer patients treated with BCG has increased in Finland up to 2.5% at a nationwide level, with a notably higher mortality rate than previously reported.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 23:30