Time spent between the first and the second chemotherapy treatment increases survival rate in bladder cancer

Barcelona (ACN) – Joaquim Bellmunt, Head of the Solid Tumors section at the Oncology Department of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, has led an international research project study which has demonstrated that the time spent between the first and the second chemotherapy treatment in people with bladder cancer is a condition for increasing survival. The study, published by the journal European Urology, has evaluated 570 patients who received a second treatment. The results show that a longer period of time between one chemotherapy treatment and the next improves the patient's prognosis. This new discovery opens the door to the development of new drugs taking this factor into account.

"A better chemosensibility increases the clinical benefits of the tumour in the first treatment" is the most reasonable explanation that Bellmunt offers when explaining why a longer period of time between chemotherapy treatments improves the patient's prognosis.

A low survival rate

Bladder cancer is the fourth most frequent type of cancer among men, who are three times more likely than women to suffer from this condition. Also, this cancer is the second most common in the category of orogenital cancer after prostate tumour. About 4,100 people die every year from bladder cancer in Spain. The survival rate is estimated at 4% and 6.9 months is the average time of survival.