BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- British researchers say chemotherapy and radiation together may offer bladder cancer patients an alternative to surgery.
Dr. Nicholas James of the University of Birmingham in England, Dr. Robert Huddart of the Institute of Cancer Research in London and colleagues find adding chemotherapy to radiation therapy allows 67 percent of patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer to be free of bladder disease two years after treatment versus 54 percent of patients who received radiation alone.
"The trial shows that this treatment offers improved control of cancer within the bladder with acceptable long-term side effects and is therefore a viable alternative to radical surgery in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer," James says in a statement.
"This may shift the balance from surgery to chemo-radiotherapy as the primary treatment for many patients with invasive bladder cancer."
Findings of the large, randomized study are scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in San Diego.
