The management of squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder.

Fifty-one patients with pure squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder were treated between 1958 and 1978. The overall 5-year survival rate was 16%. Ninety-two per cent of cancer deaths were caused by failure to control local disease; treatment by radiotherapy and elective cystectomy resulted in no long-term survivors. It is concluded that earlier diagnosis would reduce the number of cases presenting with advanced local disease and that future research should be directed towards adjuvant studies with chemotherapeutic agents known to have activity against bladder cancer.