What is intravesical therapy?
Certain types of bladder tumors are hard to remove using surgical procedures like a TURBT, particularly flat tumors (carcinoma in situ). In addition, some tumors may be likely to recur after initial resection. In these cases, special medications that destroy cancer cells may be placed directly into the bladder. This treatment is called intravesical therapy. There are two principal drugs that are used as intravesical chemotherapy or immunotherapy. • Mitomycin C is an intravesical, anti-cancer drug that has been shown to be effective after the TURBT in reducing the number of recurrences of bladder tumors by as much as 50%. An advantage of Mitomycin C is that it is not easily absorbed through the lining of the bladder and into the blood and, thus, less risky than chemotherapy given intravenously. Side effects from the drug can be pain when urinating and/or “chemical cystitis”, an irritation of the lining of the bladder which can feel like a urinary tract infection. Both these side effects
