Your Care Team
The Lefcourt Family Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center at Englewood Health takes a team approach. Our disease-specific teams include doctors and other healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines with experience treating your cancer. We offer bladder cancer treatments based on the latest medical research, tailored to the unique characteristics of your cancer.
All of your providers are conveniently located in one place, making it easier for you to receive comprehensive care in a single visit. Your care team includes:
- Urologists, who specialize in diseases of the urinary tract, including bladder cancer.
- Urologic oncologists, who manage bladder cancer using drug therapies such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy.
- Radiation oncologists, who plan and perform radiation therapy specifically tailored to treat bladder cancer.
- Pathologists, who analyze tissue samples to confirm the diagnosis and understand the cancer's characteristics.
Your care team meets regularly to discuss your treatment plan and determine the most effective, personalized approach. This may include surgery, medical therapies, radiation therapy, precision medicine, and access to clinical trials.
Englewood Health also partners with other leading healthcare organizations. If you need specialized treatment that we do not provide, we can seamlessly connect you with the appropriate care at another hospital.
Minimally Invasive Bladder Cancer Surgery
If surgery is part of your bladder cancer care, we use minimally invasive techniques whenever possible — including robotic bladder cancer surgery — operating through small incisions. This approach results in less discomfort after surgery, a shorter hospital stay, and a faster recovery.
- Transurethral resection: Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer may be treated with a laser or electrical current using slender tools inserted through the urethra.
- Bladder-sparing surgery (partial cystectomy): The surgeon removes only part of the bladder. This is another option for people with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. It may be performed using robotic surgery.
- Radical cystectomy. Removal of the entire bladder may be performed for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, using a robotic approach when possible.
- Bladder reconstruction: Our urologic surgeons offer bladder reconstruction to create a new system to urinate after radical cystectomy, using tissue from the intestine.
Medical Treatments for Bladder Cancer
Our Infusion Center, located on the Englewood Hospital campus, offers a comfortable and convenient experience for patients returning often for therapy. We also provide medical treatments in our Jersey City and Fair Lawn locations.
Our urologic oncologists use the latest drugs to target specific aspects of bladder cancer, aiming to improve outcomes while minimizing side effects. Medical treatments for bladder cancer may include:
- Chemotherapy: The most common medical treatment for bladder cancer, chemotherapy may be given before surgery to shrink a tumor, after surgery to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back, or combined with radiation therapy as an alternative to surgery. It may be given intravenously (through a vein) or directly into the bladder through a catheter (intravesical chemotherapy).
- Immunotherapy: Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) is a form of intravesical immunotherapy that has been used for decades. It is a form of inactive bacteria that provokes an immune response in the bladder. Intravenous checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies are used for advanced bladder cancer and work by boosting the power of the immune system to find and destroy cancer cells.
- Targeted therapies: Erdafitinib is used to treat advanced bladder cancers that have a mutation in a gene called FGFR3.
- Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs): These drugs have an antibody with a chemotherapy drug attached. They bind to a cancer cell and release their toxic payload to kill the cell. Some people with advanced bladder cancer can receive treatment with an ADC called enfortumab vedotin.
Radiation Therapy for Bladder Cancer
Radiation therapy is used to target cancer cells in specific areas of the bladder. It may be used before surgery to shrink a tumor, after surgery to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back, combined with chemotherapy as an alternative to surgery, or to relieve the symptoms of advanced bladder cancer. At Englewood Health’s Coe Radiation Oncology Center on our main campus, our radiation oncology team uses state-of-the-art equipment to precisely target cancerous tissue while sparing healthy surrounding tissues.
Clinical Trials
Our oncologists participate in many clinical trials evaluating promising new treatment options for bladder cancer. A clinical trial may give you access to a cutting-edge therapy that is not yet available as a standard treatment. Your care team will let you know if you may be eligible for any clinical trials. The decision to participate is entirely yours.
Geriatric Oncology for Bladder Cancer
At Englewood Health, we offer specialized care for older adults diagnosed with bladder cancer. Our team focuses on the unique needs of elderly patients, tailoring treatment plans to address both the cancer and any age-related health concerns. With a comprehensive approach that balances effective cancer treatment and maintaining quality of life, we provide personalized care that takes into account the patient's overall well-being and treatment tolerability.
Survivorship Services
After completing multidisciplinary therapy, patients are guided through a comprehensive survivorship meeting. This meeting provides an opportunity to review the treatments received and establish a personalized plan for ongoing surveillance and follow-up care. Our team will assess your current health status, discuss strategies for monitoring your recovery, and help ensure you have the necessary support for long-term well-being following bladder cancer treatment.