Michal Horňák
Objective: Bladder cancer has protracted course and is an ideal candidate for chemoprevention strategies. Most bladder tumors are confined to mucosa and lamina propria (TaT1). Standard treatment is transurethral resection and adjuvant intravesical immunotherapy. Because of high recurrence, morbidity results not only from progression but also from frequent cystoscopy and resections. New approaches including chemoprevention are needed. Material and methods: A literature review of current status of bladder cancer prevention was carried out. This review focuses on tertiary chemoprevention, which implies adequate treatment of primary tumor in stages TaT1 and prevention of second primary tumor. Results: This article reviews oral agents that have been shown to have a role in decreasing the recurrence of bladder cancer: vitamins A (and its analogues), B6, C, D, E and their combinations; inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase (difluoromethylornitine – DFMO); nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Conclusion: Many agents are promising in the prevention of recurrence of TaT1 bladder cancer, none of them can be recommended as proven strategies. The fluoroquinolone antibiotics after transurethral procedures might be useful for prevention. Promising preventive agents include cyclooxygenase inhibitors, others agents need to be proved in clinical trials.