PCN273 EPIDEMIOLOGY AND UNMET NEEDS OF BLADDER CANCER IN ITALY

Abstract

Bladder cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in high-income countries. Information on bladder cancer in Italy is scattered across scientific literature and institutional and educational resources, and no attempt has been made yet to organize and summarize this information across various sources of available data. The aims of this review are to summarize recent epidemiological data of bladder cancer (including incidence, prevalence, survival and mortality) and to evaluate patients’ unmet needs. We reviewed the scientific literature of the last 10 years through PubMed/Medline and Google Scholar and we deeply explored the grey literature. Available official statistics indicate a high burden of bladder cancer in Italy, where this neoplasm has one of the highest incidences worldwide and, in consideration of its relatively high survival, it ranks 4th in cancer prevalence, after neoplasms of the breast, prostate and colorectal. The limited therapeutic options for muscle-invasive and advanced/metastatic urothelial cancer are one of the major unmet needs for patients with this neoplasm, in Italy and worldwide. Advances in cancer immunotherapy and in understanding molecular biology of bladder cancer are, however, rapidly altering the therapeutic landscape for targeted subgroups of patients with advanced/metastatic disease. Other unmet needs include low quality of life after radical cystectomy, the lack of widespread clinical pathway schemes to improve and standardize quality of care and a low Italian patients’ empowerment. This review provides a summary of recent epidemiological and health care data of urothelial cancer, including patients’ unmet needs, with a focus on Italy, one of the countries with the highest incidence rate worldwide.