- Follow-up
All patients with NMIBC were planned to undergo two-year maintenance BCG therapy in accordance with the Southwest Oncology Group Study (SWOG) protocol [10]. The patents were examined by cystoscopy and cytology at three-month intervals for two years [11]. They underwent CT urography imaging every six months [11]. Recurrence was defined as histopathologically confirmed detection of any tumor after BCG induction therapy. Progression was defined as an increase in the stage of the muscle-invasive disease. After two years of follow-up, the patients were classified as non-responders to immunotherapy in case of recurrence or progression and responders to immunotherapy if there was no recurrence or progression.