Researchers Currently Studying New Treatment Options for Bladder Cancer
According to the Medical College of Georgia, Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer and the tubule blockage caused by bladder cancer damages the kidneys. Smoking increases the risk for bladder cancer and the first signs of bladder cancer is blood in the urine. According to Dr. Coleman, bladder cancer begins at the urinary lining of the bladder and when the lining is disrupted, persons usually bleed into their urine. If the cancer is in its early stage, it is curable and physicians will just tear off the diseased lining so that it can regrow. If the cancer is in its early stage one, a vaccine used in tuberculosis is injected directly into the bladder once a week for six weeks.
If the bladder cancer is already in its stage two, patients are usually treated with cisplatin and gemcitabine before or after surgery or simultaneous with radiation therapy. However, one of cisplatin's side effects is kidney failure and gemcitabine without cisplatin is not nearly as effective. This prevents some doctors from using gemcitabine and cisplatin on some patients.
The Medical College of Georgia is currently at Phase II study on the possible use of vinflunine, a medicine used for lung cancer, on patients who can't undergo cisplatin and gemcitabine treatment. The vinca alkaloids in the vinflunine will keep cells from dividing properly so the tumor can't grow and existing tumor will regress.
Persons who participate in the study will get either the vinflunine and gemcitabine treatment or gemcitabine alone. They will be injected with the drugs on the first and eight day of a 21 day cycle and patients who responded well to the treatment may continue taking the drugs up to a year or more. One side effect of vinflunine, though, is anemia. Anemia can suppress the bone marrow but persons already suffering from anemia is not excluded from the trial.
Dr. Teresa Coleman, hematologist-oncologist at the Medical College of Georgia Cancer Center, says that she is hopeful that the treatments will be as effective as cisplatin therapy. Cisplatine Therapy can give patients with non-metastatic disease about a 50-50 chance of surviving the next 5 years. In a previous study, researchers found that 67 percent of the persons treated with vinflunine alone had their disease stabilized.
SOURCE:
Medical College of Georgia, "New Treatment Option Studied for Bladder Cancer."� MCG.edu.
Published by JWhite
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