"Saving the bladder is a big event," says co-author William Shipley, MD, deputy head for clinical research of the MGH Department of Radiation Oncology. "Our first goal is to save the patient's life, but our second goal is to preserve the bladder if safely possible."
One-third of all bladder cancers are of the most serious invasive form, in which the tumor penetrates the organ?s muscular layers. Shipley and his colleagues used a three-pronged or "tri-modality" approach in their attempt to combat this often deadly condition. Members of the MGH research team had developed this approach and reported a pilot study?s results in 1993.
One hundred ninety patients were treated in this study. First, surgery was performed to remove the patient's tumor from the bladder. Then, radiation and chemotherapy treatments were administered; chemotherapy complements the cancer-killing effects of radiation, which is directed at the bladder itself. One-third of patients enrolled in the study did eventually require bladder removal, because tests conducted several weeks after administering the tri-modality approach showed that some cancer remained. However, the ten-year survival rate for all patients in the study was as good as that of radical bladder removal, which has been the standard of care for invasive tumors.
The researchers note that current treatments for bladder cancer are effective in reducing recurrence of cancer in the pelvic area, but 50 percent of all invasive bladder cancer patients will eventually
Contact: Sue McGreevey
Massachusetts General Hospital