Contemporary management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Abstract

The current standard treatment for muscle-invasive nonmetastatic bladder cancer is neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy. However, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not widely accepted even with level 1 evidence. Adjuvant chemotherapy should be discussed if patients have not received neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery and have high-risk pathologic features. Although not considered standard of care, bladder-sparing therapy can be considered for highly selected patients and for those medically unfit for surgery. Even though there are no level 1 data, the treatment outcomes for highly select patients given bladder-sparing therapy appear promising, with many patients retaining a functional bladder. Personalized chemotherapy is currently being actively pursued to target the underlying molecular changes and tailor to individual needs.