Arjun V. Balar, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the genitourinary medical oncology program at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses a few approaches for incorporating immunotherapy treatments into the frontline for patients with bladder cancer.
There is a major interest in using these therapies in the earlier setting, according to Balar. There are currently ongoing trials for stage II bladder cancer in either the perioperative setting, adjuvant setting, or in combination with chemotherapy in lieu of surgery.
Balar says that using immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy instead of a radical cystectomy is the most exciting because many patients are poor surgical candidates that can’t tolerate the cystectomy, or they are not willing to undergo surgery. The procedure has a large impact on morbidity and quality of life, so it is understandable when they do not wish to undergo the radical cystectomy.
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