Instillation therapy for bladder cancer

Intravesical instillation therapy for bladder cancer? Bladder cancer is the most common tumor in the urinary system. Surgical treatment should be taken promptly after diagnosis. The recurrence rate of bladder cancer is high within 2 years after surgery. Intravesical instillation chemotherapy is currently the most commonly used measure to prevent tumor recurrence after bladder cancer surgery. The purpose is to exert the cytotoxic effect of anticancer drugs, kill residual tumor cells, tiny lesions or carcinoma in situ in the bladder, and reduce the recurrence of bladder tumors. It can be said that this method is simple and easy to operate, and has significant efficacy.

What is perfusion therapy?

Infusion therapy is to use a catheter to directly infuse drugs into the bladder, ureter, urethra, and rectum to play a therapeutic and preventive role. Its treatment goal is to remove tumors visible to the naked eye, prevent tumor recurrence, and prevent tumors from infiltrating deep into the muscle layer or metastasizing to local lymph nodes.

Advantages of perfusion therapy:

1. Anticancer drugs can act directly on tumors in the bladder for a long time and at high concentrations.

2. It can kill tumor cells in the bladder, including residual tumor cells after surgery, and prevent tumor implantation and recurrence.

3. Directly treat bladder carcinoma in situ.

4. Reduce the toxic and side effects of systemic medications.

5. Try to preserve the bladder, improve the quality of life and maintain sexual function.

Choice of drugs for intravenous instillation therapy of bladder cancer

There are currently two types of chemotherapy drugs for bladder: biological agents, such as BCG; chemical drugs, such as mitomycin and pirarubicin. The ideal bladder instillation drug is one that can quickly reach an effective drug concentration in the bladder epithelium, with less systemic absorption and fewer adverse reactions.

Studies have found that the adverse reactions of intravesical instillation of pirarubicin are milder than those of BCG. In terms of therapeutic effect, pirarubicin is slightly better than BCG; but at the same time, the adverse reactions of pirarubicin are more obvious than those of mitomycin.

After bladder instillation, most patients may experience mild digestive tract symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Patients should be advised to eat easily digestible, highly nutritious, high-vitamin foods and fresh vegetables and fruits, drink plenty of water, quit smoking and drinking, avoid spicy and other irritating foods, and keep bowel movements open.