Safeguarding Autonomy of Patients With Bladder Cancer

In the world of cancer care, Halstedian paradigms for radical surgery have evolved toward organ preservation strategies without compromising the probability of cure. As such, clinicians have increasingly turned their focus toward minimizing the stigmata of treatment, with patient-centered outcomes having greater influence on decision making. Today, patients are typically able to preserve much of their functional anatomy and cosmesis. For example, selected patients with head and neck cancers are routinely offered a strategy of larynx preservation with upfront radiation therapy and chemotherapy, reserving a more morbid total laryngectomy for the minority who relapse (1).

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