Abstract
Background/Objectives: Bladder cancer is a significant clinical problem with approximately 500,000 new cases worldwide annually. In approximately 25% of cases, disease is diagnosed at a stage of invasion of the muscle layer of the bladder. The current standard approach in this disease is preoperative chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy. Dose-dense MVAC (ddMVAC), a two-day chemotherapy regimen, is the reference treatment protocol in this setting. The presented study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of accelerated MVAC (aMVAC) chemotherapy-a one-day regimen given before the resection of the bladder due to muscle-invasive disease. Methods: A retrospective analysis included 119 consecutive patients diagnosed with urothelial muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) who underwent preoperative chemotherapy with the aMVAC regimen. The planned treatment included 4-6 cycles of preoperative chemotherapy. The analysis of the degree of histopathological response to treatment was based on the three-grade TRG (tumor regression grade) classification. Results: A complete pathological response (TRG1) was observed in 44 patients (36.7%), and a major pathologic response (