Radiation Therapy and Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Stage II or Stage III Bladder Cancer

OBJECTIVES: * Evaluate the safety and tolerability of induction chemoradiotherapy with paclitaxel and cisplatin followed by selective bladder preservation or radical cystectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II or III muscle invasive carcinoma of the bladder previously treated with transurethral tumor resection. * Evaluate the efficacy of transurethral tumor resection and induction chemoradiotherapy in achieving a complete response in this patient population. * Assess the value of tumor parameters as prognostic factors for initial tumor response and recurrence-free survival in this patient population. OUTLINE: Four to six weeks after prior transurethral resection, patients receive induction therapy comprising paclitaxel IV over 1 hour on days 1, 8, and 15, cisplatin IV over 1 hour on days 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, and 16, and radiotherapy twice daily on days 1-5, 8-12, and 17. Four weeks after induction therapy, patients undergo urologic evaluation. At 1-2 weeks after evaluation, patients with complete response receive consolidation therapy comprising paclitaxel IV over 1 hour on days 1 and 8, cisplatin IV over 1 hour on days 1, 2, 8, and 9, and radiotherapy twice daily on days 1-5 and 8-10. Patients with poor tumor response undergo a cystectomy. At 12 weeks postconsolidation therapy or 8 weeks post radical cystectomy, patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy comprising gemcitabine IV over 30-60 minutes followed by cisplatin IV over 1 hour every 3 weeks. Treatment repeats every 4 weeks for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed every 4 months for 1 year, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 84 patients will be accrued for this study within 3 years.