Bladder Tumors:

Bladder cancer is a common cancer of the urinary tract. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death among men and the seventh among women. Clinical management of bladder cancer is challenging because of the heterogeneity among bladder tumors with respect to invasion and metastasis, frequent occurrence of new tumors in the bladder among patients treated with bladder preservation treatments and poor prognosis of patients with tumors that invade the bladder muscle and beyond. Due to these factors it has been said that the cost per patient of bladder cancer, from diagnosis to death is the highest of all cancers. In addition to it being a significant health problem, bladder cancer is an interesting cancer to study in many ways than one. For example, Environmental factors such as cigarette smoking and other carcinogens play a major role in the development of transitional carcinoma of the bladder, whereas, schitosomasis, a protozoan infection results in squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder. Different molecular pathways with distinct molecular signatures appear to be involved in the development of low-grade versus high-grade bladder tumors. Currently being monitored by an invasive endoscopic procedure, cystectomy, with urine cytology as an adjunct, bladder cancer is at the forefront of developing cancer biomarkers for non-invasive detection. Due to the differences in the invasive and metastatic potential of bladder tumors, treatment options differ depending upon tumor grade and stage. New advances are being made in treatment options to improve the outcome and quality of life for patients with bladder cancer. Similarly, new molecular nomograms are being discovered to predict treatment outcome so that individualized treatment options can be offered to patients.

This new text book on bladder cancer gives both the clinicians and laboratory investigators state-of-the art information on basic science and clinical aspects of bladder cancer.

1. Epidemiology of Bladder Cancer, Maria Ribal2. Bladder Carcinogenesis and Molecular Pathways, Vinata Lokeshwar3. Pathology of Bladder Tumors, Arndt Hartmann4. Bladder cancer diagnosis and detection, Fred Witjes5. Urine Cytology, DNA Ploidy and current approaches, Eva Wojick6. Molecular signatures of bladder cancer, Getzenberg7. Economics of bladder cancer diagnosis and surveillance, Yair Lotan8. Prognostic Markers for bladder cancer, Habuchi9. Molecular Nomograms for predicting prognosis and treatment response, Theodorescu10. Practical Approaches to the Management of Superficial Bladder Cancer, Levy and Jones11. Clinical management of Low-grade bladder tumors, Oosterlink12. Treatment of Low-grade tumors, Allaparthi and Balaji13. Intravesical Chemotherapy, Soloway14. Intravesical Immunotherapy: BCG, G. Hemstreet15. Cystectomy for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, Axel Merseburger16. Radical surgery, Juergen Gschwend17. Urinary Diversion, Stefan Hautmann18. Laparoscopic cystectomy, Hubert John19. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Amir Sherif20. Upper tract tumors: Diagnosis and Treatment, Mesut Remzi21. Chemotherapy for metastatic bladder cancer, Maria De Santis22. Non-TCC tumors: Diagnosis and treatment, Hassan Abol-Enein