Muscle invasive bladder cancer treatment
Chemotherapy uses anti cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer .
For muscle invasive bladder cancer you have the drugs into a vein (intravenously). As the drugs circulate in your blood, they travel throughout your body. They work by disrupting the growth of cancer cells.
This is different to having chemotherapy into the bladder for non muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Read about having chemotherapy into your bladder
Chemotherapy can be difficult to cope with. Tell your doctor or nurse about any problems or side effects that you have. The nurse will give you telephone numbers to call if you have any problems at home.
Last reviewed: 27 Aug 2025
Next review due: 27 Aug 2028
Muscle invasive bladder cancer has spread into or through the muscle layer of the bladder. The main treatments include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Chemoradiotherapy means having chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment together. You might have this as one of your main treatments.
There are different treatments for metastatic bladder cancer. These include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.
Bladder cancer is cancer that starts in the lining of the bladder.
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