The role of radiotherapy in urinary bladder cancer: current status

The role of radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of urinary bladder cancer has undergone several modifications along the last decades. In the beginning, definitive RT was used as treatment in an attempt to preserve the urinary bladder; however, the results were poor compared to those of radical surger...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gustavo Nader Marta, Samir Abdallah Hanna, Rafael Gadia, Sebastião Francisco Miranda Correa, Joao Luis Fernandes da Silva, Heloisa de Andrade Carvalho
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Urologia 2012-04-01
Series:International Brazilian Journal of Urology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1677-55382012000200002
Description
Summary:The role of radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of urinary bladder cancer has undergone several modifications along the last decades. In the beginning, definitive RT was used as treatment in an attempt to preserve the urinary bladder; however, the results were poor compared to those of radical surgery. Recently, many protocols have been developed supporting the use of multi-modality therapy, and the concept of organ preservation began to be reconsidered. Although phase III randomized clinical studies comparing radical cystectomy with bladder preservation therapies do not exist, the conservative treatment may present low toxicity and high indexes of complete response for selected patients. The aim of this study was to review the literature on the subject in order to situate RT in the current treatment of urinary bladder cancer.
ISSN:1677-5538
1677-6119