RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving gemcitabine directly into the bladder may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well gemcitabine works in treating patients with recurrent bladder cancer that has failed previous Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG).

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the 8-12 week efficacy of intravesical gemcitabine, in terms of complete response rate, in patients with recurrent superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder that has failed prior intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG).
• Determine the relapse-free, worsening-free, progression-free, and overall survival of patients treated with this drug.
• Evaluate the toxicity of this drug in these patients.
• Correlate, preliminarily, expression levels of genes or genetic polymorphisms involved in the gemcitabine pathway and angiogenesis with clinical toxicity, response, and relapse-free survival of patients treated with this drug.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

• Induction therapy: Patients receive gemcitabine intravesically once a week for 6 weeks (weeks 1-6) in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving a complete response proceed to maintenance therapy at week 14.
• Maintenance therapy: Patients receive gemcitabine intravesically once in weeks 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, and 50 in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months for 3 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 25-45 patients will be accrued for this study within 6-12 months.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed superficial transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder meeting 1 of the following stage criteria:
• Stage T1, grade 2-3
• Stage Tis
• Stage Ta, grade 3-4 or multifocal (> 2 lesions)
• Stage Ta, any grade
• Must have received and failed ≥ 2 courses of intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) (one 6-week course, plus one 3-week course, or fewer weeks if BCG was discontinued due to side effects) within the past 3 years
• Recurrent disease
• Must have had a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT) or bladder biopsy within the past 60 days documenting tumor recurrence and tumor stage and grade
• TURBT or biopsy must have been performed ≥ 6 weeks after the completion of BCG and/or other immunotherapy treatment (or ≥ 14 days after completion of intravesical chemotherapy treatment)
• All visible tumor must have been resected at the time of the last biopsy
• No evidence of urethral or renal pelvis TCC by upper tract radiological imaging (e.g., intravenous pyelogram, CT urogram, or retrograde pyelogram) within the past 2 years

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• Zubrod 0-2

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Not specified

Hepatic

• Not specified

Renal

• Not specified

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, carcinoma in situ of the cervix, or adequately treated stage I or II cancer that is in complete remission

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• Prior intravesical interferon alfa allowed, alone or in combination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)

Chemotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• No more than 1 course of intravesical chemotherapy (e.g., thiotepa, mitomycin, or doxorubicin) within the past year, defined as 6 or more weekly instillations, with or without monthly maintenance instillations
• No prior gemcitabine

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• No prior pelvic radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy to any other area of the body

Surgery

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from prior surgery