OUTCOME OF INVASIVE BLADDER-CANCER

Recent studies have shown improvements in survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, perhaps as a result of stage selection and reduced perioperative morbidity rather than of increased effectiveness of treatments. The main ongoing therapeutic trials (combined use of chemotherapy with either surgery or radiation therapy) aim at controlling occult metastases which may be present in up to 50 % of apparently localized bladder cancers. Identification of risk factors for metastatic disease is therefore crucial. In this study, factors potentially associated with response to treatment were analyzed on the basis of a review of outcomes reported with current treatments.