Physicians Seldom Follow Bladder Cancer Guidelines

Physicians seldom following clinical guidelines for managing patients with high-grade, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, according to an online report in Cancer.

In a study of 4,545 patients diagnosed with the disease from 1992 to 2002, only one received care compliant with clinical practice guidelines in the two years following diagnosis, according to researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles led by Karim Chamie, MD, MSHS.

Guidelines call for the use of intravesical therapy to minimize the risk of recurrence and progression and recommend follow-up with cytoscopy and cytology every three months. Approximately 42% of physicians did not perform at least one cytoscopy, one cytology, and one instillation of immunotherapy for a single patient within their practice during the initial two-year postdiagnostic period, the researchers reported.