Chemoradiotherapy as a bladder-preservation approach for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: current status and perspectives

Abstract

Radical cystectomy has been considered the gold standard for the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. However, because of disappointing results with radical surgery in terms of survival and decreased quality of life (QOL), bladder-preservation treatment has been introduced as an alternative to radical cystectomy. The primary purpose of the bladder-preservation approach has been to maximize overall cure rates, with the secondary purpose being to preserve the patient’s bladder. The modalities used to ensure successful bladder preservation include radical transurethral resection (TUR), concurrent cisplatin (CDDP)-based chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. In patients who achieve a complete response (CR) after trimodality therapy, 5-year survival rates of more than 50%, the same as those of radical cystectomy, can be achieved and 70% of this group will retain an intact functional bladder.

In this article, bladder-preservation studies using chemoradiotherapy are reviewed.