Intravesical Drug Delivery into the Bladder to Treat Cancers

The standard treatment for patients with bladder cancer is surgical transurethral resection (TUR). Intravesical chemotherapy and immunotherapy are widely used after TUR to prevent recurrence and progression of superficial disease. There are many drug therapies for bladder cancer via intravesical instillation. This review describes the drugs which are approved or currently tested for treating bladder cancers. Some new chemotherapies and immunotherapies under investigation are also introduced. Vehicles to carry or encapsulate intravesical drugs are introduced in this review. Enhancement approaches to promote drug absorption or prolong residence times such as nano-sized particles, thermo-chemotherapy, and electromotive drug administration are also discussed. This review summarizes the information regarding intravesical therapy and its enhancement techniques. Recent developments of these drugs and their carriers for in vivo or clinical use are presented.