Sara Anne,
For whatever it's worth. My URO had me do 6 weekly installations, then 6 weeks off then 6 more weekly treatments. That is all he wants me to do. Don't know if part of this is my tumor was tiny (.5CM) and papillary or another idea. I know that he is concerned about continual installations increasing complications.
An article from the Journal of Urology in the body of the article supports the 6 and 6 protocol as being statistically equal to the 6 plus maintenance. They will let you register free as a guest. It's buried in about the middle. See:
www.jurology.com/article/PIIS0022534705667936/fulltext.
Here's the body:A recent study by the Southwest Oncology group suggested a 3-week booster schedule to be effective in reducing tumor recurrence in high risk patients and protecting from disease progression. Considering the 7-year followup, recurrence was reduced by half (from 52% to 25%) with maximal benefit in patients with rapidly recurring tumors. The apparent advantage of this regimen in reducing disease progression did not appear to manifest until 2 years after induction was completed. However, in accessing results for all tumor patients receiving maintenance BCG versus those receiving no maintenance, differences were not particularly striking. For example, in examining maintenance treatment for stages Ta and T1 tumors versus controls, there is an early decrease in the control group at the 2.5 to 3 year interval before and following which the slopes of tumor-free status appear to be similar for both groups. Furthermore, in assessing maintenance therapy for carcinoma in situ, there is an early decrease in recurrence-free status (or persistence) in the “no maintenance” group until the 2-year interval when rates of tumor recurrence become similar between the 2 groups. Considering the heterogeneity of tumor responsiveness, host factors and variability of immune reactivity much remains to be determined in optimizing treatments with BCG to determine whether disease recurrence or progression can be prevented.