Do socioeconomic disparities impact a bladder cancer patient's care?  Can exercise improve the health of bladder cancer patients during treatment? What technologic and pharmacologic advances are urologists utilizing to treat bladder cancer?

Researchers presented these bladder cancer study findings at the 117th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA).

Boris Gershman, MD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, investigated socioeconomic disparities and their potential impact on the management of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) despite strong clinical practice guidelines. "Disparities in the Prevalence and Management of High-Risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer"

Not much is known about the impact of a patient's behavioral habits on bladder cancer, so Mara Koelker, MD, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, investigated the role of exercise on self-reported physical health status. "Impact of Exercise on Physical Health Status in Bladder Cancer Patients"

Pramit Khetrapal, MD, at University College London, explored the utilization of intracorporeal robot-assisted RC (iRARC) vs open RC (ORC) and the impact on a bladder cancer patient's recovery time. "Results of the Intracorporeal Robotic vs Open Cystectomy (iROC) Multi-Centre Randomised Trial"

Disease-free survival was significantly improved with adjuvant nivolumab vs. placebo in patients with high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma (MIUC) after radical surgery, according to Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai's Matthew Galsky, MD. "Disease-Free Survival With Longer Follow-Up From the CheckMate 274 Trial of Adjuvant Nivolumab in Patients After Surgery for High-Risk Muscle-Invasive Urothelial Carcinoma"

"The bladder cancer session highlights technologic and pharmacologic advances in bladder cancer care as well as important work on equity and exercise," said Dr. Davies.