Concomitant radiotherapy-chemotherapy in invasive bladder cancers. What's new since 1997?

Concomitant radiotherapy-chemotherapy is increasingly used in urology in th e treatment of invasive bladder tumours. In 1997, the outcome of 552 patien ts was reported in the international literature. Two years later; another 6 17 patients had been treated according to various modalities. The initial c omplete response rate ranged from 56 to 87% (median: 70%). 5-year overall s urvival rates weve between 55 and 68% for T2 tumours. The metastasis rate w as between 22 and 35% for the overall treated population. Concomitant radio therapy-chemotherapy using a platinum salt represents a possible therapeuti c modality in some patients, but it cannot be considered to be equivalent t o loral cystectomy, which remains the reference treatment in operable patie nts with an operable tumour, achieving a 63 to 80% 5-year survival for pT2 tumours.