Adjuvant Systemic Therapy for High-risk Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer After Radical Cystectomy: Current Options and Future Opportunities.

We describe the case of a 71-yr-old woman with locally advanced muscle-invasive bladder cancer and stage III chronic kidney disease due to an obstructed nonfunctional left kidney. She was started on neoadjuvant immunotherapy, but had to stop treatment because of acute worsening of renal function. Radical cystectomy was then performed uneventfully, revealing pT3aN1 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. Adjuvant chemotherapy in high-risk locally advanced bladder cancer after radical cystectomy currently poses several challenges, especially for cisplatin-ineligible candidates. Recent data on adjuvant immunotherapy trials suggest a disease-free survival advantage for this subgroup of patients. The current and future role of immuno-oncology agents in this setting is discussed. PATIENT SUMMARY: Patients with advanced bladder cancer might benefit from further chemotherapy or immunotherapy following bladder removal, but it is still unclear which patients benefit the most from this strategy. Measurement of biomarkers and scans to show urinary function will probably help in optimising patient selection for this treatment in the near future.

European urology oncology. 2021 May 06 [Epub ahead of print]

M Carmen Mir, Riccardo Campi, Yohann Loriot, Javier Puente, Gianluca Giannarini, Andrea Necchi, Morgan Rouprêt, EAU Section of Oncological Urology

Department of Urology, Fundacion Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia, Valencia, Spain., Department of Urological Robotic Surgery and Renal Transplantation, University of Florence, Careggi Hospital, Florence, Italy; Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy., Department of Cancer Medicine, INSERM U981, Université Paris-Sud/Université Paris-Saclay, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France., Medical Oncology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos, CIBERONC, Madrid, Spain., Urology Unit, Santa Maria della Misericordia University Hospital, Udine, Italy., Unit of Urology, Urological Research Institute, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy; Department of Medical Oncology, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy., Sorbonne University, GRC 5 Predictive Onco-Uro, AP-HP, Urology, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France. Electronic address: .