Current concepts in diagnostics and therapy of bladder cancer

In recent years we have seen numerous innovations concerning diagnostics as well as surgical and systemic therapy of bladder cancer, which will be of advantage for patients. Photodynamic diagnostics and narrow-band imaging have improved detection of flat urothelial neoplasias. By using en-bloc resection techniques urologists try to achieve a complete resection of tumors in order to improve their assessment. Robot-assisted techniques will be increasingly important in the future.
A major breakthrough has been achieved in systemic treatment of ad­vanced or metastatic tumors by introduc­ing various immune-oncologic drugs. This has resulted in the establishment of effective treatments for this complex pop­ulation of patients with poor overall prognosis. In the near future, these sub­stances will be continuously evaluated in further clinical trials, also in combination regimens or in the neoadjuvant setting.
Keywords: bladder cancer, photodynamic diagnostics, narrow-band imag­ing, en-bloc resection, instillation therapy, robot-assisted surgery, lymphaden­ectomy, cystectomy, immunotherapy, checkpoint inhibitors, pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab.