Community hospitals, along with the men and women in uniforms scrubs got failing grades as a recent study found that only 1 in 4,545 high-grade bladder cancer patients receive recommended treatment. Consequently, patients not receiving are 50% more at risk of spread and 70% increased risk of the cancer to return.
Could it be that the researchers of Chamie of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center set the standard bar too high as suggested by Dr. H. Barton Grossman, professor and deputy chairman of the urology department at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston? That’s unlikely the case, since only 37% of patients with high-grade bladder cancer received the treatment.
High-grade bladder cancer treatment guidelines as set by the American Urological Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network:
- Inject chemotherapy drugs into the bladder
- Chemotherapy drugs injection must be followed with bladder assessment and urine testing every three months
- Chemotherapy shot with a six-week course of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatment follow ups
- Upper urinary tract MRI or CT scans every two years
