Bladder cancer

Abstract

Chapter 11 discusses the considerable controversy about the optimal management of localized, muscle invasive bladder cancer. Surgical removal of the bladder is considered the ‘gold standard’ in many countries but there is no randomized trial to underpin this statement, and many patients are unfit for surgery. Reported 5-year survival rates with radiotherapy are similar to surgical series and there are many patients for whom radical surgery is simply not suitable and hence bladder-preserving techniques are appropriate.