Preoperative irradiation with and without chemotherapy as adjunct to radical cystectomy

Between 1949 and 1974, 449 patients with bladder cancer were treated by radical cystectomy alone or after three planned preoperative radiation regimens in sequential studies at MSKCC. In these clinical studies integrated irradiation and surgery seems to have improved local disease control and survival rates, especially in deeply invasive bladder cancers.