Patients treated for bladder cancer with a surgery known as radical cystectomy have worse outcomes if they are smokers, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by Keck Medicine of USC. The study appeared in The Journal of Urology.
More than 500,000 cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed each year worldwide. When the cancer is large or has spread beyond the bladder, patients are typically treated with chemotherapy followed by a radical cystectomy, which is when the bladder, nearby lymph nodes and surrounding organs are surgically removed.
