Frailty as a prognostic indicator in the radical cystectomy population: a review

Radical cystectomy and urinary diversion are the current gold standard of management for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. While it is a common urologic procedure, it is associated with significant patient morbidity and mortality. Complications associated with the operation are often frequent, although minor, and significantly impact functional outcomes as well as patient quality of life. Frailty is emerging as a new preoperative prognostic indicator to help determine which patients are at greatest risk of poor outcomes and postoperative complications after treatment. In this review, we summarize the current known literature analyzing frailty as a significant prognostic risk factor of short-term and long-term outcomes after radical cystectomy and urinary diversion in the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer.