A Phase 3 interventional study of Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor and Sequential Systemic Chemotherapy in Bladder Cancer, TURBT and Radiotherapy, sponsored by Assiut University. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 65 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-03.
Sponsored by Assiut University · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment
Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is a potentially lethal disease for which radical cystectomy with appropriate systemic therapy remains a standard curative approach in medically fit patients. . However, Half of bladder cancer cases are diagnosed in patients aged over 75 years, many of whom are not fit for major surgery owing to their performance status and comorbidities .
A substantial proportion of bladder cancer cases occur in older adults (there is no single universal age cutoff for the term older adults, but several commonly used definitions exist: WHO: generally refers to people aged 60 years or older, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, while in clinical and research settings: ≥65 years is frequently used as the operational definition of older adults, especially in oncology and geriatric medicine), and advanced age is frequently accompanied by comorbidities and frailty that may limit eligibility for radical surgery or multimodality treatment . Bladder-preserving treatment incorporating maximal transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) and definitive radiotherapy is therefore an important treatment option in selected patients.
Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is a potentially lethal disease for which radical cystectomy with appropriate systemic therapy remains a standard curative approach in medically fit patients. However, Half of bladder cancer cases are diagnosed in patients aged over 75 years, many of whom are not fit for major surgery owing to their performance status and comorbidities .
A substantial proportion of bladder cancer cases occur in older adults (there is no single universal age cutoff for the term older adults, but several commonly used definitions exist: WHO: generally refers to people aged 60 years or older, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, while in clinical and research settings: ≥65 years is frequently used as the operational definition of older adults, especially in oncology and geriatric medicine), and advanced age is frequently accompanied by comorbidities and frailty that may limit eligibility for radical surgery or multimodality treatment. Bladder-preserving treatment incorporating maximal transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) and definitive radiotherapy is therefore an important treatment option in selected patients.
Most established bladder-preservation protocols use concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Nevertheless, sequential treatment-systemic chemotherapy followed by definitive radiotherapy-may be attractive in selected patients . Published data support bladder-preserving radiotherapy in older adults, although the literature is heterogeneous and most contemporary series evaluate concurrent rather than purely sequential treatment . In Older adults, concurrent chemoradiotherapy has been associated with improved survival, while hypofractionated bladder radiotherapy schedules have demonstrated acceptable tolerability in selected older populations .
These observations provide the rationale for prospectively evaluating a sequential approach in patients who are not ideal candidates for concurrent chemoradiotherapy. A number of small single-centre studies using the higher biological dose of 30-36 Gy in 6 Gy per fraction suggest acceptable acute and late toxicity with local control achieved in over of 60% patients at 3 months . Prospective multicentre assessment of this radiotherapy schedule has not yet been performed. The proposed study will evaluate the feasibility, efficacy, treatment completion, and toxicity of a sequential strategy in older adults with non-metastatic MIBC.
1,798 studies on the registry are indexed under Urinary Bladder Neoplasms; 445 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 71 is above the median of 60 across 1,296 interventional studies indexed under Urinary Bladder Neoplasms.
Browse Urinary Bladder Neoplasms studies →Assiut University is the lead sponsor of 5,078 studies on the registry; 2,178 are open to participants now.
Of its 14 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 0 (0%) have results posted.
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CrCl ≥40 mL/min for patients receiving fractionated cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
8- Eligible patients would have an expected survival of greater than 6 months, be willing to accept assessment with cystoscopy following radiotherapy completion and be able to attend for follow-up
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Histologically or cytologically confirmed
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECOG performance status
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Creatinine clearance (CrCl)
How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis B tests
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis C tests
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Patients aged ≥65 years with histologically confirmed muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder with non-metastatic disease and with PS 0-3, who are medically unfit or unsuitable for radical cystectomy or radical conventional RT, will be treated with sequential chemotherapy followed by ultrahypofractionated radiotherapy will be considered for enrollment.
Procedure: Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor · Drug: Sequential Systemic Chemotherapy · Radiation: radiotherapy
All patients should undergo maximal safe TURBT before systemic treatment. The objective is maximal tumor debulking while preserving bladder function and obtaining adequate tissue for pathological diagnosis and staging. A second-look TURBT may be considered, especially when the initial resection was incomplete (tumors ≥3 cm, no evaluation of muscle involvement in spite of radiological evidence).
Systemic chemotherapy will be administered before radiotherapy. The preferred regimen should be selected according to renal function, performance status, comorbidities, and multidisciplinary assessment. Suggested protocol options: * Cisplatin-eligible patients: Gemcitabine + cisplatin may be used commonly for 3-4 cycles. * Cisplatin-ineligible patients: Gemcitabine + carboplatin may be considered where appropriate . Radiotherapy should commence after adequate recovery from chemotherapy, provided there is no evidence of progression and the patient remains suitable for local treatment. A practical interval is approximately 3-6 weeks after the final chemotherapy cycle.
Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy planning is recommended using three or four fields; however, use of static 5-7-field IMRT or volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy treatment is permitted. Three-dimensional dose distributions will be produced for the overall prescribed dose of 36 Gy in six fractions. The dose distribution will be assessed for coverage of the PTV and normal tissues sparing using appropriate transverse sagittal and coronal views. All plans will be created to ensure that at least 98% of the PTV (PTV D98%) receives \>90% (ideally \>95%) of the prescribed dose, the median PTV dose (PTV D50%) is within 1% of the prescription dose and the near maximum (PTV D2%) is \<107% (ideally \<105%) of the prescribed dose. To minimize unexpected high dose outside the PTV, it is required that 1 cm3 of normal tissue outside the PTV should be \<110% of the prescribed dose.
Assessment of objective Response rate (ORR) and Disease control rate (DCR)
Evaluate the Clinical efficacy including Objective Response rate (ORR) and Disease control rate (DCR) at 4-6 weeks after finishing RT.
Time frame: 4-6 weeks after completion of RT
Assessment of Toxicity of Treatment
Evaluate Toxicity of Treatment using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE V.5)
Time frame: Baseline
Assessment of Toxicity of Treatment
Assessment of treatment-related toxicity according to health-related quality of life using the EQ-5D questionnaire
Time frame: Baseline
Assess the Time to local disease progression
Time from the date of treatment initiation to the date of documented local disease progression
Time frame: From treatment initiation until the end of the follow up ( 12 months follow up )
Assess the Time to EFS
Time from the date of treatment initiation to Event free survival
Time frame: From treatment initiation until progression or death
No study locations are listed for this record.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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