Surgical bladder preserving strategies in the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Single modality bladder-sparing therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, including transurethral resection (TUR), partial cystectomy, systemic chemotherapy or radiotherapy, have been demonstrated to result in insufficient local control of the primary tumour, as well as decreased long-term survival in the patients when compared to radical cystectomy. Therefore, multimodality treatment protocols that aim at bladder preservation and involve all of the aforementioned approaches have been established. Arguments for combining systemic chemotherapy with radiation are to sensitise tumour tissue to radiotherapy and to eradicate occult metastases that have already developed in as many as 50% of patients at the time of first diagnosis. It has been shown that the clinical outcome observed with this approach approximates that after radical cystectomy. Additionally, a substantial number of patients survive with an intact bladder. However, bladder-sparing approaches are costly, and require close co-operation between different clinical specialists as well as careful follow-up. The good long-term results that are observed after cystectomy and the creation of an orthotopic neobladder make the substantial advantage of a bladder preservation strategy questionable when the patient's quality of life is addressed. Additionally, bladder-sparing therapy-related side effects might result in an increased morbidity and mortality in those patients who need to undergo surgery due to recurrent or progressive disease. Multimodality bladder-sparing treatment is a therapeutic option that can be offered to the patient at centres that have a dedicated multidisciplinary team at their disposal. However, radical cystectomy remains the standard of care for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.