ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 20 (UPI) -- A new treatment for invasive bladder cancer may cure patients and allow them to avoid the common treatment of bladder removal surgery, U.S. researchers said.
Cystectomy -- bladder removal -- requires up to a week in the hospital and leaves patients with a reconstructed bladder or an external urostomy bag, University of Michigan researchers said. However, they found minimally invasive surgery with a chemotherapy drug and radiation therapy may not only cure patients of bladder cancer, but also allow them to keep their bladders.
Patients received transurethral surgery, which removes tumor cells without making incisions, to 24 patients with muscle invasive cancer of the bladder. Then they received low doses of the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine and radiation therapy for six weeks.
Researchers found all but two patients showed no signs of cancer at their first follow-up screening. Four years later, 65 percent of patients remained cancer-free -- similar to results with more aggressive surgery -- and 16 of 24 kept their bladders.
