What is BCG intravesical?
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin or BCG is the most common intravesical immunotherapy for treating early-stage bladder cancer. It’s used to help keep the cancer from growing and to help keep it from coming back. BCG is a germ that’s related to the one that causes tuberculosis (TB), but it doesn’t usually cause serious disease.
How do you give BCG intravesical?
Intravesical BCG dose and schedule. To obtain the standard dose, the BCG vaccine powdered vial is usually diluted into 50 ml of normal saline. The diluted BCG is then infused into the bladder through a urethral catheter after complete drainage of the bladder. It should be maintained in the bladder for 2 hours.
How effective is intravesical BCG?
Intravesical docetaxel has shown good activity, even in BCG-refractory NMIBC. Among 54 patients, 59% experienced a complete response, 40% were disease-free at 12 months, and 25% at 3 years. Cystectomy was required in 24% with an overall 5-year disease-specific survival of 85%.
How long does BCG immunotherapy last?
Maintenance treatment with BCG reduces the risk of the disease coming back or spreading. This treatment can last 1–3 years, but the treatments are given much less frequently, often monthly.
Is BCG still in short supply?
The non–muscle invasive bladder cancer treatment BCG remains in short supply, with Merck currently serving as the sole supplier of the medication in the US.
What does BCG stand for?
Introduction. BCG, or bacille Calmette-Guerin, is a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease. Many foreign-born persons have been BCG-vaccinated. BCG is used in many countries with a high prevalence of TB to prevent childhood tuberculous meningitis and miliary disease.
How is BCG administered?
BCG vaccine is not given with a needle and syringe, as most other vaccines are. Instead, the BCG vaccine is a liquid placed directly onto the skin of your upper arm. Then a multi-pronged needle device is used to prick the skin through the liquid to deliver the vaccine into the shallow layers of skin.
Is BCG available in USA?
Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease. This vaccine is not widely used in the United States, but it is often given to infants and small children in other countries where TB is common.