Bladder Cancer

Patients with diabetes are at a greater risk for bladder cancer, and worse, for disease recurrence and progression. So, recent research investigated if a certain diet would help.

Now that a number of immunotherapy agents have been approved in the bladder cancer space, identifying and managing the toxicities that may come along with them is critical.

Daniel J. George, M.D., discusses the role of immunotherapy, its continued integration into standards of care and what else the future holds for the treatment of bladder cancer.

“As the population of cancer survivors continues to grow, so does the importance of addressing the long-term sequelae of cancer treatment,” the authors wrote. “This hearing loss can result in multifaceted decrease in quality of life, and in pediatric patients it can impact social and academic development.”

When combined with other regimens in the treatment of patients with bladder cancer, immunotherapy has been shown to be beneficial, according to Arjun Balar, M.D.

To take the next step in this research, investigators are now combining immunotherapies together, or with chemotherapy, to create added benefits and more durable, long-lasting responses.

There were monumental advances in the treatment of bladder cancer during the year 2017, with five approvals for checkpoint inhibitors in both the first and second line setting

When given neoadjuvant chemotherapy before getting a radical cystectomy, patients with the basal subtype of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) saw significantly improved overall survival (OS) compared to those who had a cystectomy alone, according to a recent study.

In the midst of all of the things that tie us together, it’s been what many would consider the most challenging shared experience a mother and son can have – facing and surviving cancer – that has been a defining feature of our relationship and ultimately one of the most overwhelming blessings of life.

Quality of care for patients being treated for urothelial carcinoma could be improved by having a multidisciplinary team treat the patient, says Robert Jones, M.D.

“It is not so much that the biology is changing; it’s that our knowledge of the biology is improving,” said Brant Inman, M.D.

After years with few advancements, five new agents were approved to treat bladder cancer within the last year. CURE spoke with Terence Friedlander, M.D. about the shifting treatment paradigm for patients with the disease.

Sumanta Kumar Pal, M.D., associate professor, Department of Medical Oncology, City of Hope, covered the scope of exciting genitourinary cancer data presented at the 2017 ESMO Congress, with a sharp focus on the CABOSUN and CheckMate-214 trials.

Immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors are so promising in bladder cancer that many patients want them as first treatments — before they’ve been proven in that setting.

Keytruda (pembrolizumab) produced better overall survival (OS) rates than chemotherapy for patients with recurrent, advanced urothelial carcinoma.

Jonathan E. Rosenberg, M.D., discusses the implications of the new treatment guidelines for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.