Support added for neoadjuvant therapy in MIBC

“Many hypothesize that one of the main reasons for the low rates of neoadjuvant chemotherapy use in patients with bladder cancer is related to concerns regarding the risks of perioperative morbidity and mortality associated with this systemic treatment,” explains Giorgio Gandaglia, corresponding author for one of the new papers. To examine whether these worries are justified, Gandaglia et al. retrospectively analysed perioperative complications among 3,760 patients with MIBC diagnosed between 2000 and 2009, recorded in a SEER–Medicare database.

Propensity-score-matched data revealed no difference in 30-day or 90-day postoperative complications, including hospital readmission and blood transfusion rates, duration of hospitalization, and mortality, between patients who underwent radical cystectomy with or without prior chemotherapy. “We should underline that our results are consistent with level 1 evidence from a previous landmark prospective randomized trial, and it is reassuring to know that the results were duplicated in our community-based study,” states Gandaglia.