Pathologic response in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: Is therapeutic effect owing to chemotherapy or TURBT?

We estimate that in a cohort of patients who receive chemotherapy and undergo transurethral resection before cystectomy, 38% of pathologic response can be attributed to transurethral resection. Understanding who responds to chemotherapy and who responds to transurethral resection is needed to measure the effectiveness of both interventions.