Bladder sparing trimodal therapy (TMT) and cystectomy were studied in a retrospective propensity score analysis. The study included 112 patients with a mean follow-up time of 4.5 years. Both therapies had similar overall and disease-specific survival rates and the mortality rates differed only slightly. Patients who underwent TMT did have a higher frequency of recurrence and 10.7% required salvage cystectomy. The researchers concluded that TMT therapy could be a viable treatment option for a select group of patients, though the patients would need to be properly monitored by urologic oncologists due to the possible need for salvage cystectomy.
References: Blevins Primeau, A.S. Bladder sparing therapy outcomes similar to cystectomy in bladder cancer. Cancer Therapy Advisor website. http://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/renal-cell-carcinoma/bladder-cancer-cystectomy-sparing-therapy-outcomes-treatment/article/651002/. April 17, 2017. Accessed April 20, 2017.