[Bladder cancer: realities and perspectives]

Bladder cancer is an urologic common tumor after prostatic carcinoma. Treatment of bladder cancer requires an interdisdisciplinary approach, including urologist, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. Treatment of superficial tumors is based on endovesical instillations and sometimes on radical cystectomy for pejorative recurrences. For invasive tumor, radical cystectomy is needed. At present, ileal reconstructions could be largely proposed, in men as in women, for better quality of life. For selected patients, chemoradiotherapy is a valid alternative treatment to radical cystectomy, with similar survival rates and conservation rates of functional bladder about 50-60 %. In spite of the efficacy of local treatment, almost one half of patients develop metastasis. Recently, new drugs like paclitaxel, gemcitabine or Herceptin are available to improve the management of metastatic disease.