[Characteristic and effective usage of adriamycin]

The utility of adriamycin (doxorubicin), an anti-cancer antibiotic, for the treatment of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder has been appreciated. Adriamycin is still used intravesically for superficial bladder cancer to avoid implantation of floating cancer cells after transurethral resection, to decrease the incidence of recurrence and treat an unresected part of the tumor. On the other hand, cisplatin-based multi-drug chemotherapies including adriamycin have proven effective in treating locally and systemically advanced bladder cancer.