[Diagnostic work-up and treatment of bladder cancer: current developments]

Forty percent of patients with superficial bladder carcinoma progress towards muscle-invasive carcinoma despite initial therapy. Emergent technologies in the diagnostics and therapy of superficial bladder carcinoma including fluorescence cystoscopy are able to reduce recurrence and progression rates. Nevertheless to date no trial was able to show a benefit with regard to cancer-specific and overall survival using these new technologies. Lymph vessel invasion has been introduced as a new prognostic marker in muscle-invasive bladder carcinoma that can be easily incorporated into routine clinical practice. Furthermore adjuvant chemotherapy has been identified along with lymph node density as a statistically significant marker for survival in muscle-invasive bladder carcinoma which should be investigated in prospective clinical trials. In metastatic bladder carcinoma, vinflunine was approved as second-line chemotherapy for patients who failed cisplatin-based chemotherapy. This article critically reviews the emergent developments of the last 12-15 months and comments on their clinical efficacy for the treatment of bladder carcinoma.