EDISCIENCES

ABSTRACT

Bladder cancer is one of the most frequent that affects humans. Often the neoplasm remains confined to the organ for a long time, but its natural evolution is the spreading to other sites. The prognosis varies according to the type of tumour and its degree of malignancy; five- year survival rate is about 80%. For metastatic bladder cancer, the median survival is about 14 months. Transurethral endoscopic resection and intravesical therapy are usually performed to decrease the risk of recurrence. Besides the colon for continuity, the tumor can metastasize to bones, lungs and liver. The treatment standard for advanced surgically unresectable and metastatic patients is cisplatin-containing combination chemotherapy with GC (gemcitabine/cisplatin) or MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, adriamycin and cisplatin). Radiotherapy can be used for treatment. We discuss a clinical case of a patient with metastatic bladder cancer that started treatment with Artemisia compounds and radiotherapy on bone metastases and had regression of liver metastasis without performing any other chemotherapy regimen. The cause of the improvement could be due to the action of the artemisia compounds or the abscopal effect induced by radiotherapy, although the symptoms improved before starting radiotherapy. Nevertheless, Artemisia compounds could have enhanced the possible abscopal effect of radiotherapy.