Advanced Bladder Cancer: Changing the Treatment Landscape

Abstract

Bladder cancer is the 10th most common cancer type in the world. There were more than 573,000 new cases of bladder cancer in 2020. It is the 13th most common cause of cancer death with an estimated more than 212,000 deaths worldwide. Low-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is usually successfully managed with transurethral resection (TUR) and overall survival for NMIBC reaches 90% according to some reports. However, long-term survival for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) and metastatic bladder cancer remains low. Treatment options for bladder cancer have undergone a rapid change in recent years. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), targeted therapies, and antibody-drug conjugates are available now. As bladder cancer is genetically heterogeneous, the optimization of patient selection to identify those most likely to benefit from a specific therapy is an urgent issue in the treatment of patients with bladder cancer.