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Review
. 2016 Oct;5(5):668-682.
doi: 10.21037/tau.2016.03.22.

Female with bladder cancer: what and why is there a difference?

Phillip Marks  1 , Armin Soave  1 , Shahrokh F Shariat  2 , Harun Fajkovic  2 , Margit Fisch  1 , Michael Rink  1
Affiliations
Review

Female with bladder cancer: what and why is there a difference?

Phillip Marks et al. Transl Androl Urol. 2016 Oct.

Abstract

While men are at a considerable higher risk of developing urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB), women present with more advanced disease stages and seem to experience unfavorable outcomes. Evaluating specific differences in the UCB incidence and outcomes between both genders in the non-muscle invasive, muscle-invasive or locally advanced and metastatic setting, as well as determining the underlying causes of disease, may allow optimizing treatment and improving the quality of urological care among both genders. In this review we summarize the best evidence and most recent findings on gender-specific differences in UCB incidence and outcomes. In addition, we present a comprehensive overview on established and potential reasons for differences in gender-specific UCB outcomes, including disparities in the pelvic anatomy, the diagnostic work-up, the modality and quality of treatment, the exposure to risk factors, the degradation of carcinogens as well as the sex-hormone signaling.

Keywords: Urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB); chemotherapy; gender; outcome; sex; steroid hormones; surgery; survival; therapy; urinary bladder neoplasms.

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Conflict of interest statement

SF Shariat owns or co-owns the following patents: Methods to determine prognosis after therapy for prostate cancer. Granted 2002-09-06. Methods to determine prognosis after therapy for bladder cancer. Granted 2003-06-19. Prognostic methods for patients with prostatic disease. Granted 2004-08-05. Soluble Fas: urinary marker for the detection of bladder transitional cell carcinoma. Granted 2010-07-20. He is advisory board member of Astellas, Cepheid, Ipsen, Jansen, Lilly, Olympus, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Sanofi, Wolff. He is speaker for Astellas, Ipsen, Jansen, Lilly, Olympus, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Sanochemia, Sanofi, Wolff. R Mathieu—Consultant: Astellas, Ipsen, Janssen; Speaker: Janssen, Sanofi, Novartis, Takeda. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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