Can Radiotherapy Reduce Secondary Bladder Cancer Risk?
The value of radiotherapy treatment for cancer has grown exponentially over the years. When it was first used in the early 20th century, its effects were merely palliative and while that is still a use for it today, there is now so much more that can be achieved, with some patients making a full recovery and being able to live cancer-free.
Advances have come from three sources. Firstly, this came through a better understanding of radiation itself. Secondly, through the development of ever more sophisticated devices, which have been able to deliver doses of radiotherapy with greater precision both in terms of the amount of radiation given and the accuracy of it.
A third area of advancement has been the use of studies to establish how particular uses of radiotherapy in certain situations may be effective in bringing about better patient outcomes.
The impact of this aspect may be more incremental than the other two, and some discoveries relate only to specific circumstances, but each such advance will benefit many patients.
The latter case may be particularly useful when treating secondary cancer, as by its very nature it is often unpredictable; once a cancer spreads beyond its area of origin, the treatment will need to be tailored according to where else in the body the cancer starts to manifest itself.
A Pelvic Relapse Breakthrough
A recent example of research that can advance treatment for secondary cancer was presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
It relates to the use of radiotherapy in the wake of surgery for bladder cancer and its effect in preventing the recurrence of muscle-invasive secondary cancer in the pelvic region.
The Phase III Bladder Adjuvant RadioTherapy (BART) study, which was carried out at hospitals across India, found that the use of adjuvant radiotherapy for patients who had undergone surgery to remove their bladder had greatly reduced instances of postoperative secondary cancer in the pelvis.
This was achieved with acceptable toxicity and no unexpected safety signals for patients.
In the study, the group undergoing the adjuvant radiotherapy only experienced muscle-invasive secondary cancer in eight per cent of cases, compared with 26 per cent for a control group without the therapy.
The Significance Of The Findings
Speaking about the findings, principal investigator for the trial Dr Vedang Murthy, a professor of oncology based at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, said: “This is one of the first studies and the largest randomised trial to show that post-operative radiation therapy can meaningfully reduce pelvic relapses in bladder cancer.”
Noting that “pelvic relapse can be devastating for patients – extremely painful and almost impossible to treat,” he added: “Our research shows that modern radiation therapy offers a safe way to prevent many of these recurrences and improve patients’ quality of life.”
The significance of this particular piece of research is twofold. Firstly, this is one of the more predictable forms of secondary cancer. In the US, around a third of patients with bladder cancer suffer secondary cancer due to tumours growing beyond the lining of the bladder into the muscle wall and invading the muscles of the surrounding area.
That means this research is not likely to be a ‘niche’ discovery that will only benefit a few patients, but become a common treatment that will help as many as a third of bladder cancer sufferers.
Multiple Ways Of Using Radiotherapy
A second important fact to note is the role of adjuvant radiotherapy. Some patients might imagine radiotherapy is either to attack the primary cancer that they were first diagnosed with, or to fight a secondary cancer after it has developed.
However, this use of radiotherapy is a prime example of a third method of use, acting as an effective preventative measure against recurrent secondary cancer.
Discoveries of this kind help radiation oncologists to offer a wider range of treatments to patients at various stages of their patient journey, improving the prospects of better outcomes.
Other Radiotherapy Advances For Secondary Cancer
This research was far from the only new research presented to the ASTRO meeting about the effectiveness of treatments in helping to fight secondary cancer.
For example, a trial by the University of California in Los Angeles revealed that a combination of stereotactic radiotherapy for limited metastatic prostate cancer could be made more effective when combined with a radiopharmaceutical, a drug that adds radiation to a ligand, a molecule that attaches itself to cancer proteins throughout the body.
The use of radiotherapy will continue to become more precisely calibrated, either on its own or in combination with other treatments. We may be able to bring the latest techniques and technology to bear on your condition, providing the best treatment available to you to seek an optimal outcome.
Learn more about our advanced radiotherapy treatments for secondary cancers on the Amethyst Group website.
