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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Patients who have surgery for bladder cancer<\/a> fare worse if they smoke, new research shows.<\/p>\n “This study is important because while it is known that tobacco smoking<\/a> is the leading cause of bladder cancer<\/a>, this is the first study to suggest that smoking<\/a> puts bladder cancer<\/a> patients at risk after diagnosis,” said study co-author Dr. Giovanni Cacciamani. He’s an assistant professor of research urology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.<\/p>\n When bladder cancer<\/a> has spread beyond the bladder, patients are usually given chemotherapy<\/a> and a surgical procedure called a radical cystectomy. This involves removal of the bladder, nearby lymph nodes<\/a> and surrounding organs.<\/p>\n For the new study, Cacciamani’s team reviewed 17 previously published studies that looked at the effect of smoking<\/a> on chemotherapy<\/a> response and survival outcomes of nearly 14,000 patients after a radical cystectomy.<\/p>\n The investigators found that people who smoked had a worse response to chemotherapy and had higher death rates in general, and also from bladder cancer<\/a>. These patients also had higher odds of bladder cancer<\/a> recurrence, compared with patients who never smoked or were not smokers<\/a> at the time of surgery.<\/p>\n Former smokers<\/a> also had worse outcomes than those who never smoked, although the differences were not as significant, the findings showed.<\/p>\n Nicotine<\/a> suppresses the immune system, causing more complications, the researchers noted.<\/p>\n “In addition, patients with a history of smoking<\/a> tend to have more aggressive forms of cancer<\/a> and, if they survive bladder cancer<\/a>, are more at risk for other potentially fatal cancers<\/a>, such as lung cancer<\/a>,” Cacciamani said in a university news release.<\/p>\n “The research suggests that as long as a person is not smoking<\/a> at the time of chemotherapy and surgery, they might do better,” he added.<\/p>\n The report was published online in the October issue of the Journal of Urology<\/i>.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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