SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — A breakthrough in bladder cancer treatment is helping to save more lives. The American Cancer Society estimates that 83,000 new cases of bladder cancer will be diagnosed this year, with almost 17,000 fatalities. But now, a new gene therapy is giving patients more hope of surviving it.
Smoking causes approximately half of all bladder cancer cases. Ninety percent of people diagnosed are older than 55. People working in printing, painting and hair salons are more at risk. These are the facts of bladder cancer you may not know.
“Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the United States,” said Amirali Salmasi, MD, MS, urologic oncologist at UC San Diego Health.
Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, or NMIBC, is the most common form of bladder cancer, and accounts for roughly 75% of cases.
“That means like a localized cancer not invading to the deepest layer of the bladder that is muscle,” explained Dr. Salmasi.
Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are first line therapies. But often the cancer will return and the entire bladder will be removed.
“That comes like all kind of the side effects and the morbidity with that,” stated Dr. Salmasi.
UC San Diego doctors are among the first in the nation to offer an FDA-approved gene therapy treatment that can potentially prevent patients from undergoing bladder removal surgery.
“Gene therapy that we administrate in the bladder. It’s a virus that carries on some, gene with it, that gene can increase your immune response,” explained Dr. Salmasi.
A catheter is inserted into the bladder and delivers a virus carrying genetic material that stimulates the production of interferon, a natural substance that boosts the body’s immune system and helps it fight the cancer and stop its growth.
“Fifty-four percent of the patients that received this treatment had a complete response at three months,” said Dr. Salmasi.
Although it’s too early to say this will be a bladder preservation option for all bladder cancer patients, doctors believe it is a first step towards saving and curing the bladder.
The most common symptoms of bladder cancer include blood in the urine, pain during urination, weak urine flow, urgency to urinate, lower back pain, fatigue, swelling of feet and loss of appetite.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Chuck Bennethum, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bladder-cancer/about/key-statistics.html
https://www.cityofhope.org/clinical-program/bladder-cancer/bladder-cancer-facts
* For More Information, Contact:
For information about Urology services at UC San Diego Health, visit
https://health.ucsd.edu/care/urology/ or call (858) 657-7876
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