24 May Heating Chemotherapy For Bladder Cancer Treatment May Increase Efficacy

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Alejandro Sousa

Alejandro Sousa, MD, PhD
Department of Urology, Comarcal Hospital
Monforte, Spain

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Dr. Sousa: Bladder Cancer management has remained stable over the past 25 years, with very little in the way of new therapies or approaches being developed. Traditional treatment using intravesical Mitomycin C for Non Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) patients is limited due it’s low absorption levels. Device assisted therapies that deliver Chemo-hyperthermia offer a new hope, with the potential for improved outcomes and better disease management due the the increased drug activity and better efficacy. We wanted to investigate the optimal treatment regime for this new therapy and whether it provides a safe and effective alternative to current standard treatment.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Dr. Sousa: The main findings suggest that the Combat BRS System which delivers Hyperthermic Intravesical Chemotherapy (HIVEC™) offers a very effective alternative to current standard treatment. We examined the effectiveness of HIVEC™ treatment in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings in intermediate-high risk NMIBC patients. Our findings demonstrated a 62.5% Complete Response rate for tumour ablation in the neoadjuvant setting and a recurrence rate of 20.8% at 4 years. In the adjuvant setting there was a 12.5% recurrence rate at 2 years. Both groups reported a very similar low grade side effect profile (with no statistical difference between the two groups) which meant that 97% of patients completed all of the scheduled HIVEC™ treatments.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Dr. Sousa: More research needs to be done to establish the optimal treatment regime for HIVEC™. We evaluated it’s efficacy in both the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings, more work needs to be done to examine which of these settings is the most beneficial, as well as looking at dose and duration of treatment schedules.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Sousa: I think that our study presents a new opportunity in the management of NMIBC, we have demonstrated that this new technique offers increased efficacy with no compromise to patient safety or tolerability. Hyperthermic chemotherapy has the potential to become the standard of care for certain risk groups in the future management of NMIBC patients.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Alejandro Sousa, Idelfonso Piñeiro, Silvia Rodríguez, Vicente Aparici, Victor Monserrat, Pilar Neira, Enrique Carro, Cármen Murias, Carlos Uribarri. Recirculant hyperthermic IntraVEsical chemotherapy (HIVEC) in intermediate–high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
2. International Journal of Hyperthermia, 2016; 1 DOI:10.3109/02656736.2016.1142618

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Last Updated on May 24, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD