Chemotherapy before or after surgery is not commonly used as a clinical practice, which is contrary to the treatment guidelines for high risk bladder cancer. The findings are published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Clinical trials have shown that survival is improved in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who are given chemotherapy before surgery. There is less evidence about whether chemotherapy after surgery also improves survival. To investigate the use of peri-operative chemotherapy in this disease, Christopher Booth, MD, FRCPC, of the Queen's University Cancer Research Institute in Canada, examined records pertaining to all 2944 patients who had surgery for high-risk bladder cancer in Ontario between 1994 and 2008.
Chemotherapy
''Chemo'' means medicine or ''drug'', ''therapy'' means ''treatment''. Chemotherapy refers to the use of cytotoxic drugs in the treatment of cancer.
Use of chemotherapy before surgery remained stable (an average of 4 percent of patients) over the study period, which is surprising given the evidence that this is a standard of care that has been demonstrated to improve survival. The use of chemotherapy after surgery increased over time: 16 percent of patients in 1994 to 1998, 18 percent in 1999 to 2003, and 22 percent in 2004 to 2008. Study results showed that use of chemotherapy after surgery was associated with better survival.
Source: Eurekalert
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