New approaches in the use of radiation therapy in the treatment of infiltrative transitional-cell cancer of the bladder

Abstract

Organ preservation using primary radical radiation therapy (RT) is a viable treatment option for many patients with invasive bladder cancer, and there is no evidence that survival is compromised by this approach. However, the survival and local control rates in patients with bladder cancer currently treated with radical RT are not optimal. Combined modality therapy, altered radiation-fractionation approaches, and exciting new approaches such as the application of gene therapy and the use of hypoxic cell sensitisers, among others, may well improve the results of treatment in the future. Ongoing clinical research, including prospective randomised trials, will be required to evaluate these new approaches to therapy.