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Chemotherapy plus radiation prevented bladder cancer recurrence
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Sixty-seven percent of individuals with muscle invasive bladder cancer were free of disease 2 years after treatment with chemotherapy plus radiation therapy, according to the findings of a large, randomized study.
Only 54% of individuals who received radiation alone were free of disease in comparison, according to the researchers.
“The trial shows that this treatment offers improved control of cancer within the bladder with acceptable long-term side effects and is therefore a viable alternative to radical surgery in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer,” Nicholas James, MD, oncologist at University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England, said in a press release.
“This may shift the balance from surgery to chemo-radiotherapy as the primary treatment for many patients with invasive bladder cancer,” he wrote.
This study provides rigorous substantiation for the hypothesis that combined modality therapy for bladder cancer at high risk of recurrence following definitive irradiation results in superior outcomes compared to irradiation alone. This study also reminds us of the different philosophies employed in the treatment of muscle invading bladder cancer in Europe and the US — ie, definitive irradiation vs. radical cystectomy — in each instance; however, combined modality therapy has been shown to result in superior survival compared to surgery or irradiation alone.
– Donald L. Trump, MD, FACP
HemOnc Today Genitourinary Cancers Section Editor
For more information:
- James N. Abstract #4.