What are the symptoms of bladder cancer – and how is it treated?
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Immunotherapy drug durvalumab, sold under the brand name Imfinzi, could help reduce the risk of bladder cancer progressing or returning to patients, according to a new study. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at University of Sheffield and Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London conducted a study on 1,063 patients with operable bladder cancer.
Patients were given either standard chemotherapy (cisplatin and gemcitabine) and surgery (530 people), or chemotherapy plus durvalumab before surgery and eight cycles of durvalumab after surgery (533). The final-stage phase 3 clinical trial found patients were 32% less likely to experience cancer recurrence or progression if they had immunotherapy, and were more likely to still be alive after two years.
Experts involved in the study describe this as a significant breakthrough in bladder cancer treatment, and hope it will be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to become the new standard of care. But, what treatment options for bladder cancer are currently available through the NHS, and what symptoms should we be aware of?.
What is bladder cancer?. “Cancer of the bladder involves abnormal growths that can cause symptoms both within the bladder and beyond if it spreads around the body,” explains Mr James Douglas, consultant urologist at University Hospital Southampton. “It is the 7th most common cancer in men, and the 11th commonest cancer overall in the UK for men and women.
