Abstract
Approximately one third of patients present with muscle-invasive bladder cancer with 50% developing progression after radical cystectomy and up to 15% having metastatic disease upfront. Several independent clinical prognostic factors for first- and for second-line chemotherapy have been identified to predict survival. Since 1980 standard first-line treatment contains a platinum-based combination chemotherapy. In the second-line setting, no clearly established regimen with substantial prolonged survival existed for a long period of time. Quite recently, based on compelling phase II and phase III data with simultaneously favorable safety profiles, several checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1/ PD-L1) have been FDA and EMA approved not only for patients progressing after first-line chemotherapy but also for upfront therapy in platinum-unfit patients.
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Conflicts of Interest
Anja Lorch: advisory role: BMS, Novartis, Ipsen, AstraZeneca
Günter Niegisch: travel expenses: Roche Pharma AG, Pfizer Pharma AG; advisory role: Roche Pharma AG, BMS Health; reserach grant: 4SC AG
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Lorch, A., Niegisch, G. (2018). Metastatic Bladder Cancer Disease and Its Treatment. In: Merseburger, A., Burger, M. (eds) Urologic Oncology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42603-7_26-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42603-7_26-1
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