First-line treatment: A patient-tailored path
Episode 4. How do you help older, frailer patients tolerate BCG therapy? When radical cystectomy is the recommended treatment, how can we best support patients in making that decision? Ashish Kamat and Fred Witjes address these questions by sharing practical strategies for dosing, preparation, and patient support, and explore how timely surgery in patients with high-risk NMIBC can reduce disease progression and long-term burden. Witjes also reveals his top tip for reassuring patients about life after cystectomy, and the pair examine how emerging therapies, from gemcitabine–docetaxel to device-assisted chemotherapy, are reshaping care pathways across different healthcare systems. View transcript.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome and introductions
00:35 When to use post-TURBT chemotherapy
04:09 Who benefits from BCG therapy?
06:50 Making the most of BCG therapy
10:13 Managing BCG-unresponsive disease
14:46 Preparing patients for cystectomy
17:50 Wrap-up
Read more about tailoring NMIBC treatment to patients’ needs.
Meet the guest speaker
Fred Witjes, MD, PhD
Fred Witjes is a Professor of Oncological Urology at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands. He specializes in cancers of the bladder, prostate, kidney, and testicle, and leads research integrating clinical diagnostics with surgical, immunotherapeutic, and chemotherapeutic approaches.
Disclosures: Advisor and lecturer for CAPS, Combat, JeMedis, Thermosome, (2024); Medac, Photocure (2025).