Novel Therapies in Bladder Cancer

The most effective non-surgical treatment for bladder cancer remains radiotherapy. The dramatic technical developments in radiotherapy have enabled greater accuracy and reliability based on three-dimensional imaging for both planning and verification. Particle therapy, in particular using protons, provides further opportunities for optimising radiation delivery and dose escalation. Novel fractionation schedules with both hyperfractionation and hypofractionation may have added benefits. Chemoradiation has been shown in one randomised-controlled trial to improve the results of radiotherapy alone, and requires further investigation. Hypoxia modification using carbogen and nicotinamide has also shown promising results in a phase II trial, and is now in phase III evaluation. Novel drug agents for bladder cancer are few, but the anti-EGFR agents and anti-angiogenic agents may have promise; the development of anti-apoptotic agents and antisense gene therapy may also become a component of the future multimodality management of this tumour.