Updates on non- and muscle-invasive bladder cancer, neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy, organ preservation therapy, treatment of advanced and metastatic disease, and treatment of relapse are included in recently published, revised clinical practice guidelines for bladder cancer.
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines focus on transitional cell carcinoma and were published online Aug. 5 in Annals of Oncology (Ann. Oncol. 2014 [doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdu223]).
Dr. Joaquim Bellmunt, director of the bladder cancer center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and his associates on the ESMO guidelines working group noted that the most common presenting symptom is painless hematuria, seen in more than 80% of patients. Approximately 70% of patients with bladder cancer are over age 65, they added.
The complete ESMO guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of bladder cancer are available at the ESMO website or at the Annals of Oncology website.
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