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Despite its increasing prevalence, a painful condition called bladder pain syndrome, or interstitial cystitis, remains understudied with limited treatment options. Min-Zhi Su and colleagues used a rat model of bladder pain syndrome to explore if electroacupuncture can alleviate pain and improve bladder function. Electroacupuncture nerve stimulation therapy has shown promise in treating conditions like Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but researchers have not explored its utility in this context. The researchers discovered that this kind of therapy can reduce neuropathic pain, promote urinary function, and decrease neuroinflammation. They also discovered a mechanism through which electroacupuncture may work. According to...

Research led by Alberto Martini, MD, that found using antihistamines in patients receiving second-line immunotherapy (IO) for bladder cancer may improve outcomes. The research focused on metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), cancer that begins in the urothelial cells, which line the urethra, bladder, ureters and some other organs. Martini, served as corresponding author of the study. Using data from two clinical trials, the researchers identified 896 patients who were treated with second-line IO drug atezolizumab. Out of those patients, 155 patients received concomitant antihistamines and 741 did not. Antihistamine users had 41% lower risk for all-cause mortality, 42% lower risk for...

A research team has shown that combining pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug, with standard chemotherapy can improve treatment outcomes for patients with small cell bladder cancer and small cell/neuroendocrine prostate cancer. Small cell carcinomas can arise in various tissues—including the bladder, prostate, lung, ovaries and breast—and are known for their rapid progression, tendency to relapse after initial treatment and poor overall survival rates. The survival time for patients with advanced small cell bladder cancer is only about 7 to 13 months and only 7 to 9 months for patients with small cell/neuroendocrine prostate cancer. The early-stage study showed that using pembrolizumab...

Findings from the international FORT-2 clinical trial showed a combination treatment including immunotherapy is safe and tolerable in patients with locally advanced or metastatic bladder cancer. In urothelial bladder cancer, increased T cell infiltration has been correlated with longer patient survival. In many cases, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) mutations are known to be drivers of bladder cancer development and progression. "In 2016, we published studies showing that the tumors with FGFR3 mutations have no T cell infiltration, which led to the logical conclusion that blocking the FGFR pathway could make more patients responsive to immunotherapy," said Sweis. Previous clinical...

A cancer drug duo more than doubled the survival of people battling the most common form of advanced bladder cancer, trial results show. Patients who took a combo of meds called EV+P—enfortumab vedotin and pembrolizumab (Keytruda)—had an average of 31.5 months survival, compared to just over 16 months for those on standard chemotherapy, researchers reported. "This is revolutionary for patients," said Dr. Jean Hoffman-Censits. "It's a practice-changing study, where we're nearly doubling the overall survival for patients with locally advanced and metastatic urothelial cancer," she said in a news release. Urothelial tumors are the most common form of bladder cancer....

Bladder cancer is one of the more common cancers worldwide. Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (tuberculosis vaccine) has been used as adjuvant therapy by urologists since 1976. Unfortunately, BCG fails approximately 40% of patients in two years. Since 2012, BCG has been in a worldwide shortage situation. One of the most promising new strategies for NMIBC is the combination of intravesical chemotherapy drugs used as sequential therapy, one drug after the other, with one-hour bladder dwell time for each drug. Initial results with gemcitabine (Gem) and mitomycin C (MMC) appeared promising but shortages in MMC led to the need to substitute docetaxel...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is hospitalized after experiencing symptoms of an "emergent bladder issue," according to the Pentagon. Austin "transferred the functions and duties of the office" to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, according to the Pentagon's Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. CBS News' David Martin reports.

Researchers have discovered that a certain type of chemotherapy improves the immune system's ability to fight off bladder cancer, particularly when combined with immunotherapy. These findings may explain why the approach, cisplatin chemotherapy, can lead to a cure in a small subset of patients with metastatic, or advanced, bladder cancer. Researchers also believe that their findings could explain why clinical trials combining another type of chemotherapy, carboplatin-based chemo, with immunotherapy have not been successful but others that use cisplatin with immunotherapy are successful. "We have known for decades that cisplatin works better than carboplatin in bladder cancer, however, the mechanisms...

An on-going, worldwide shortage of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) means that many patients with a common and serious type of bladder cancer have limited access to this effective standard of care treatment. But for the first time in almost 50 years, there appears to be a viable treatment alternative. A new study finds that a safe, inexpensive combo-chemotherapy is better tolerated than BCG and is better at preventing high-grade cancer recurrence in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the U.S., and NMIBC accounts for about 75% of bladder cancer cases. High-risk...

Researchers who treated a group of post-surgery bladder cancer patients with the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab have found that patients whose blood contained circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), responded very well to the treatment. The research was part of a larger Phase III trial which looked at whether giving atezolizumab for up to one year to patients following bladder removal surgery improved the patients' survival prospects, compared to a group that received no further treatment after surgery but placed in an observation group. Part of that trial involved patients' levels of ctDNA being measured after surgery, and during further treatment or observation....

Hundreds of chemical compounds were screened on cell cultures representing different stages and subtypes of bladder cancer and several promising agents with inhibitory (growth-inhibiting) effects were identified. A drug used to treat childhood leukemia was found to have good efficacy in two specific types of bladder cancer. Shahrokh Shariat and Walter Berger screened various drugs. They investigated the effects of more than 1,700 chemical compounds on 23 commercially available cell lines representing different stages and subtypes of bladder cancer. The scientists were able to identify over 470 substances with inhibitory (growth-inhibiting) effects. These included a large number of drugs already...

My wife is getting ready to have surgery. She is having 3 bladder stones removed. This is normally a simple procedure, but as many of you know my wife is a paraplegic. Because she had bladder reconstructive surgery about 15 years ago it is a bit more involved than normal. Besides, being her 15th time going under has made her more apprehensive about surgery's any more. Considering how anything can and does happen, I would appreciate some prayers for her. I am sure it will all go off without any problems, but prayers can never hurt. The who procedure...

A powder nick-named "Pixie Dust" is being used to save the limbs of war heroes who have been wounded in Afghanistan. Surgeons have already used the dust to save several soldiers so badly mutilated that they were at risk of amputation. Made from pig bladders it has the ability to help the human body grow new tissue to replace large areas of a leg or arm destroyed by blast damage.

A healthy adult bladder can hold up to 16 ounces (2 cups) of urine comfortably, according to the National Institutes of Health. How frequently it fills depends on how much excess water your body is trying to get rid of. Circular muscles called sphincters close tightly to keep urine from leaking. The involuntary leakage of urine is called incontinence. Nerves in the bladder tell you when it is time to empty it. The sensation becomes stronger as the bladder continues to fill and reaches its limit. When you urinate, the brain signals the sphincter muscles to relax. At the same...

Dr. Rodriguez discussed use of stem cells for treating SUI (Stress Urinary Incontinence). A stem cell is embryonic, adult, or engineered. Embryonic stem cells come from the blastocyst which is totipotent or pluripotent. These cells are immortal, identical clonal cells with long-term self renewal. Controversies include possible tumor formation, the difficulty maintaining cell cultures and ethical issues. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. Adult stem cells include hematopoetic stem cells, such as derived from bone marrow. This requires a bone marrow harvest, with low yield and difficulty to expand clones. A variety of other tissues have...

Extract Of Broccoli Sprouts May Protect Against Bladder Cancer ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2008) — A concentrated extract of freeze dried broccoli sprouts cut development of bladder tumors in an animal model by more than half, according to a report in the March 1 issue of Cancer Research. This finding reinforces human epidemiologic studies that have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer, according to the study's senior investigator, Yuesheng Zhang, MD, PhD, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. "Although this is an animal study, it provides potent evidence that eating...

Improving urethral function has been an elusive target for researchers seeking viable treatments for stress urinary incontinence (SUI). However, Los Angeles researchers suggest that adipose-derived pluripotent cells may be a viable means to treat SUI and also improve urethral function. Using human cells obtained from liposuction specimens, investigators differenciated stem cells into smooth muscle, seeded the cells on carrier matrices and injected them into the proximal urethra of incontinent nude rats. Abdominal leak-point pressure and retrograde urethral perfusion pressure were measured both pre- and post-operatively. Smooth muscle cells seeded on the carrier matrix demonstrated long-term improvement, providing immediate bulking effects...

Human fatty tissue has been shown to be a viable, pluripotent source for stem cells that can be differentiated into a variety of cell lineages, including bone, muscle and neural cell types. San Francisco researchers investigated whether autologous adipose-derived stem cells could be differentiated into urologic tissues that could be used for reconstructive purposes. Investigators harvested paragonadal adipose tissue from rat specimens and processed the tissue to yield the stem cells, which were then suspended in a phosphate-buffered solution (PBS) and injected into the bladder and proximal urethra of 16 Sprague-Dawley rats. A control group of 16 animals received PBS...

Source: University of Rochester Medical Center Date: April 22, 2007 One Reason Why Bladder Cancer Hits More Men Than Women Science Daily — Scientists have discovered one of the reasons why bladder cancer is so much more prevalent in men than women: A molecular receptor or protein that is much more active in men than women plays a role in the development of the disease. The finding could open the door to new types of treatment with the disease. In an article in the April 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D., of the...

Democrats believe making embryonic stem cell research a campaign issue will help them in their effort to gain a majority in the House of Representatives in November’s elections.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has unveiled new advertisements that target seven Republicans who oppose federal funds for stem cell research that results in the destruction of embryos. The Democrats plan to promote the controversial issue with fervor in areas where there are large medical centers or biotechnology companies, the Chicago Tribune reported March 27. They also plan to use the ads in congressional districts known for politically moderate voters but represented...