Innovations in superficial bladder cancer treatments. Review

Bladder cancer treatment is a challenge for both urologists and oncologists. Particularly during these last years many changes have been made in the management of superficial bladder cancer. In the case of superficial bladder cancer, intravesical instillation of chemo/immunotherapeutic agents after transurethral resection is the standard. The treatment goals include: complete removal of the initial tumor, prevention of recurrences and inhibition of disease progression. This work aims at reviewing the new developments in the therapeutic field of superficial bladder cancer. A growing trend involves the use of multimodality treatment to obtain the activation of the host immunity against the tumor, and to enhance the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapeutic agents. The new therapeutic modalities, which are under preclinical and clinical investigations, are showing promising results.