[Medical treatment of bladder carcinoma]

To describe drugs used in bladder carcinoma.

Pubmed search for efficacy, mode of action and side effects for each molecule. Additional data were searched from the French regulatory agencies web sites (HAS and ANSM).

The drugs used in the treatment of bladder cancer are represented by the products referred to diagnosis (hexyl aminolevulinate), the intravesical instillations for the treatment of tumors not infiltrating the muscle and the infiltrating tumor chemotherapy (neo-adjuvant treatment or metastatic tumors). The hexyl aminolevulinate cystoscopy allows to identify a significantly greater number of lesions, including carcinoma in situ, compared to conventional white light cystoscopy. For intravesical instillations, BCG has a superior efficacy to mitomycin C with a lower tolerance. The chemotherapies for invasive tumors are effective in metastatic disease in 15-20% of cases with a mean survival of 12 to 14 months.

Except the use of hexyl aminolevulinate for improving the diagnosis, there was no emergence in recent years of new drugs for the treatment of bladder cancer. Targeted therapies currently available for many neoplasms were ineffective for bladder cancer.