A new approach improves the chances of those with locally advanced bladder cancer.

Researchers for the Southwest Oncology Group, led by a team at the University of Texas, have been comparing two ways of dealing with bladder cancer. One group of patients was pre-treated with chemotherapy before receiving surgery for locally advanced disease. The other group received surgery alone.

The comparison showed that, on average, those receiving the chemo lived an average of 31 months longer than those treated with surgery alone. What is more, those treated with surgery had a 66 per cent greater chance of dying from bladder cancer than those on combination therapy.

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer among men and the eighth in women in the USA. Smoking is a major risk factor and, of the 57,000 who are expected to be diagnosed with the disease in 2003, an estimated 12,500 will die.

Source

New England Journal of Medicine 28th August 2003