Research suggests that patients with an aggressive type of bladder cancer could begin receiving more timely treatment. This is based on new findings that advocate for the use of initial MRI scans and biopsies to reduce wait times.
Research suggests that patients with an aggressive type of bladder cancer could begin receiving more timely treatment. This is based on new findings that advocate for the use of initial MRI scans and biopsies to reduce wait times.
A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by researchers from the University of Birmingham’s Bladder Cancer Research Centre (BCRC) and Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU) examined the effectiveness of using a specific type of MRI imaging (mpMRI) as the first step in assessing bladder cancer, comparing it to traditional surgical methods.
Funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research, the study involved 143 patients suspected of having bladder cancer. Participants were split into two groups: one underwent the typical transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT), while the other group began with an MRI scan to guide their subsequent treatment.
The results showed that the MRI group had a noteworthy reduction in wait times for treatment. On average, these patients waited just 53 days from their initial referral to treatment, which is 45 days shorter than the 98 days seen in the standard care group.
Conventional methods for diagnosing muscle invasive bladder cancer require a surgical technique called transurethral resection, where a thin telescope is inserted through the urethra to examine the bladder and remove any cancerous tissue while the patient is under anesthesia.
Professor Rik Bryan, who leads the Bladder Cancer Research Centre at the University of Birmingham and authored the study, explained:
“Bladder cancer is quite common, and we know that quick treatment is vital for all cancers, especially muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Reducing the time from suspicion to effective treatment can significantly improve patient outcomes.
“However, the approach to bladder cancer treatment has remained largely unchanged globally for a century, despite advances in other medical fields. We aimed to discover whether modern techniques that have improved the diagnosis and treatment of other cancers could also be applied to bladder cancer care. The BladderPath trial was designed to see if additional diagnostic tests, beginning with mpMRI followed by biopsy or TURBT, could speed up the timeline for receiving appropriate treatment for aggressive bladder cancers.
“We were excited to find that the new diagnostic approach using MRI significantly reduced the waiting time for patients to receive the correct treatments, cutting the average time down from 98 days to just 53 days.”
Professor Nick James, a researcher at The Institute of Cancer Research in London and a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who also led the investigation, added:
“This study demonstrates that incorporating an MRI before conducting a biopsy can almost halve the time required to start effective treatment for the most serious bladder tumors that invade the bladder muscle, reducing this period from 98 days to 53 days. We’ve also found that approximately one in seven patients facing complex tumors can bypass the usual surgical procedure for bladder cancer diagnosis. Since MRIs are considerably less costly than surgical procedures, we anticipate that this new diagnostic strategy will not only lower expenses but also optimize surgical resources and spare patients from unnecessary surgeries. The next phase of our research will focus on determining if this method influences patient survival outcomes.”
