Cancer patient advocacy: new opportunities for treatment advances.

Patient advocacy organizations play a critical role in increasing public awareness of a specific cancer and in demanding improvement in approaches to treatment. These organizations also can increase participation in clinical trials and help raise funds for research. But not all cancer patients are represented by advocacy organizations. Until the founding of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network in 2005, there was no patient advocacy group for bladder cancer despite the prevalence of the disease. Working with health care professionals, this new advocacy organization can facilitate further advances in research and treatment, leading possibly to a cure for bladder cancer.