title: Organ-sparing treatment of bladder cancer: an innovative approach.
abstract: Muscle-invasive carcinoma of the urinary bladder is a highly malignant disease with a rapid doubling time and a propensity for distant metastasis. Although radical cystectomy has been the treatment of choice in the United States, limited tumor resection followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy, with preservation of a normally functioning bladder, is an alternative approach of significant usefulness. In carefully selected patients, such treatment offers a good chance of long-term cure and survival equal to that associated with cystectomy. This combined-modality approach remains investigational and requires a multidisciplinary team including a urologic surgeon, a radiation oncologist and a medical oncologist.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.forename: W U
authors.initials: WU
authors.lastname: Shipley
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018579:Patient Selection; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*