THE ESSENTIAL
- Between 13,000 and 20,000 new people are affected by bladder cancer each year in France.
- For those diagnosed late, a new treatment protocol tested by researchers has produced very encouraging results.
- “Durvalumab plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy led to significant improvements in overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone,” the trial authors said.
A recently published trial successfully tested a new treatment protocol for bladder cancer at an advanced stage.
Bladder cancer is mostly diagnosed at a localized stage, with approximately 25% of tumors being said to be infiltrating with bladder muscle involvement (TVIM).
“TVIMs represent 15 to 25% of tumors at diagnosis, they are associated with lymph node invasion in 20 to 60% of cases and are metastatic from the outset in 7% of cases”, indicates the Urologie Marseille website. “The combination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and local treatment is the standard protocol for treating this type of pathology,” doctors continue.
Despite these treatments, the risk of relapse and death remains high in people with TVIM, often greater than 30% within 3 years.
Bladder cancer: durvalumab reduces the risk of recurrence
To counter this phenomenon, researchers decided to test an immunotherapy called “IMFINZI” (or “durvalumab”) combined with classic chemotherapy.
“A total of 533 patients were assigned to the durvalumab group and 530 to the comparison group,” scientists explain. “After analysis, the estimated survival without serious health problems at 24 months was 67.8% in the durvalumab group and 59.8% in the control group,” the scientists write in their report. “Estimated overall survival at 24 months was 82.2% in the durvalumab group and 75.2% in the control group,” they continue.
Other research findings: Durvalumab reduced the risk of recurrence by 32% and the risk of death by 25% compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone. “Durvalumab plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy led to significant improvements in overall survival compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone,” conclude the researchers.
Bladder cancer: what are the chances of survival?
Bladder cancers are 4 times more common in men and are most often diagnosed around the age of 70.
Between 13,000 and 20,000 new people are affected by this disease each year in France. When bladder cancer is caught early, survival is over 80% at 5 years. But if the diagnosis is made at the metastatic stage, this figure drops to 5%.
Smoking is the number one risk factor for bladder cancer. In 80 to 90% of cases, the first symptom of bladder cancer is visible blood in the urine.
