Abstract

THE EFFICACY AND COMPLICATION OF BACILLUS CALMETTE GUERIN (BCG) IN 39 CASES OF NON-MUSCLE INVASIVE BLADDER CANCER, AL-KHADRA HOSPITAL, TRIPOLI, LIBYA

Naser Alfgi*, Mohammed Jefairy, Manani Shaalyia and Ali Ghariany

ABSTRACT

Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) is the most widely administered vaccine globally and has been used for tuberculosis prevention for a century. Beyond its role in tuberculosis control, BCG also elicits an anti-tumor immune response, which has been effectively utilized in the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Additionally, emerging research suggests that BCG provides protection against various non-mycobacterial and viral infections. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and complications associated with BCG. It was conducted at the Libyan Swiss Center, Masara Clinic, Khadra Hospital in Libya, involving 39 cases from January 2020 to December 2023. Notably, research has demonstrated the successful application of BCG in the tertiary prevention of NMIBC, where it has proven to be more effective than chemotherapy. In this manuscript, we review studies assessing BCG’s effectiveness in cancer prevention and explore the underlying mechanisms that contribute to its protective effects. In gender male patients are 69.23% and female patients are 30.76%. In number of tumors almost 2-7 is affected in patients are 87.17% and more than 8 is 12.82%. In grade high grade is 61.53% and low grade is 38.46%. BCG treatment completed in 32 patients with 82.05%, remaining termination reasons are BCG refractory with 2.56%, BCG intolerance is 7.69%, BCG resistance is 5.12% and BCG sepsis is 2.56%. In BCG vaccine complications the Regional lymphadenitis is 7.69%, Keloid reactions is 10.25%, Ulcers and Granulomatous is 7.69%, Disseminated infections, which are rare but can be serious is 2.56%. Urinary tract infections, such as cystitis, hematuria and bladder irritability is 20.51% and fever is 30.76%,

Keywords: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, Vaccines, Neoplasms, Prevention, Complication, Libya.