Contemporary management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2012 Jul;12(7):941-50. doi: 10.1586/era.12.60.

Abstract

The current standard treatment for muscle-invasive nonmetastatic bladder cancer is neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy. However, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not widely accepted even with level 1 evidence. Adjuvant chemotherapy should be discussed if patients have not received neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery and have high-risk pathologic features. Although not considered standard of care, bladder-sparing therapy can be considered for highly selected patients and for those medically unfit for surgery. Even though there are no level 1 data, the treatment outcomes for highly select patients given bladder-sparing therapy appear promising, with many patients retaining a functional bladder. Personalized chemotherapy is currently being actively pursued to target the underlying molecular changes and tailor to individual needs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant / statistics & numerical data
  • Cisplatin / therapeutic use
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Cystectomy / methods
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Patient Selection
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / pathology*

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Cisplatin