ORLANDO, Fla.—Hospital readmission following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer is associated with a decreased likelihood of receiving of post-operative chemotherapy, researchers reported at the annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
In a study of 1,498 patients with a mean age of 75.9 years, Marc C. Smaldone, MD, and colleagues at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia found that the odds of receiving post-operative chemotherapy within nine months after surgery were 30% less among patients readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of index hospitalization discharge compared with those not readmitted. The odds were 48% less for patients readmitted twice and 79% less for those admitted three times or more.
During the study period, 440 patients (29.4%) were readmitted within 30 days of index hospitalization discharge; 13.4% of patients had two or more readmissions.
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“Despite an established survival benefit, utilization of neoadjuvant chemotherapy remains low in Medicare beneficiaries undergoing cystectomy,” Dr. Smaldone’s group concluded in a poster presentation.
They also observed: “These data inform treatment planning decisions and strengthen the argument supporting chemotherapy utilization in the neoadjuvant setting.”
