Biology and Management of Bladder Cancer

The development of new techniques of management appears to be yielding higher rates of response, prolonged disease-free survival, and perhaps even improved rates of survival in bladder cancer patients.

Abstract

IN recent years, there have been important advances in our understanding of the biology of bladder cancer. They have been achieved with the use of new experimental models, the study of oncogenes in bladder cancer, and the demonstration of a wide range of functional heterogeneity in populations of morphologically identical bladder cancer cells. The development of new techniques of management — including diagnosis and staging, the use of intravesical chemotherapy and preemptive (neoadjuvant) intravenous chemotherapy, and the application of new monoclonal antibodies — appears to be yielding higher rates of response, prolonged disease-free survival, and perhaps even improved rates of . . .