Dr. Sfakianos on Importance of Restaging Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumors

John P. Sfakianos, MD, an assistant professor of urology and urologic oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System, discusses the importance of restaging transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBTs).

Patients with localized bladder cancer must be appropriately staged, says Sfakianos. It is very important to differentiate a non-muscle invasive tumor from a muscle-invasive tumor because the treatments drastically differ. With muscle-invasive tumors, multimodal therapies and more radical treatments must be considered, while intravesical treatments should be considered for those with non-muscle invasive tumors, says Sfakianos.

If a patient has a non-muscle invasive tumor and a minimal amount of disease in the bladder at the time of treatment, theyare going to achieve the best response rate, adds Sfakianos; these patients have a better response rate than someone who has a single TURBT with adjuvant therapy. The reason for that is because the patient is probably getting a better effect and the disease is being minimized. Thirty percent to 50% of patients will still have tumors at the time of restaging, and up to 20% of patients will have a higher stage than initially thought; thischanges the therapy that these patients receive, concludes Sfakianos.