SARS-CoV-2 Infection and High-Risk Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: Are There Any Common Features?

BACKGROUND

The new severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak is a huge health, social and economic issue and has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Bladder cancer, on the contrary, is a well-known disease burdened by a high rate of affected patients and risk of recurrence, progression and death.

SUMMARY

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV) often involves mild clinical symptoms but in some cases, it can lead to pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiorgan dysfunction. Factors associated with developing a more severe disease are increased age, obesity, smoking and chronic underlying comorbidities (including diabetes mellitus). High-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) progression and worse prognosis are also characterized by a higher incidence in patients with risk factors similar to COVID-19. Immune system response and inflammation have been found as a common hallmark of both diseases. Most severe cases of COVID-19 and high-risk NMIBC patients at higher recurrence and progression risk are characterized by innate and adaptive immune activation followed by inflammation and cytokine/chemokine storm (interleukin [IL]-2, IL-6, IL-8). Alterations in neutrophils, lymphocytes and platelets accompany the systemic inflammatory response to cancer and infections. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio for example have been recognized as factors related to poor prognosis for many solid tumors, including bladder cancer, and their role has been found important even for the prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Key Messages: All these mechanisms should be further analyzed in order to find new therapeutic agents and new strategies to block infection and cancer progression. Further than commonly used therapies, controlling cytokine production and inflammatory response is a promising field.

Pathways to psychological wellbeing for patients with bladder cancer and their partners-in-care

PURPOSE

The goal of the current analyses was to describe pathways through which Psychological Wellbeing might be better understood for clinical participants with bladder cancer and their partners. This was achieved by applying Roy's Adaptation Model that provides a framework with which to understand responses to challenging circumstances that has proved useful in the study of a range of chronic conditions.

METHODS

The sample comprised 119 patients with a diagnosis of bladder cancer, and 103 supportive partners. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire comprising the Bladder Cancer Index, Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale, and sociodemographic details. For each sample, structural equation modelling was used to determine goodness of fit, guided by Roy's Adaptation Model.

RESULTS

For patients, increasing age and disease duration, the negative appraisal of health care, perceived poor functioning and elevated burden of disease provided pathways to Psychological Wellbeing. For partners, increasing age, being male, a negative health care experience, and perceived burden of disease were significant. However, for both groups a positive evaluation of family and social support was the key indicator of lower Psychological Wellbeing.

CONCLUSIONS

The models presented describe a suite of issues that could inform a nursing model of care to enhance the experience of living with bladder cancer for both patients and their supportive partners.

Bladder cancer: Risk factors, diagnosis, and management

Bladder cancer is the most common genitourinary cancer in the United States. Symptoms of bladder cancer mimic those of a urinary tract infection, which can delay timely diagnosis. Because of the high rate of bladder cancer, it is likely advanced practice registered nurses will be responsible for the care of patients with bladder cancer. This article reviews the signs and symptoms of bladder cancer along with management options to safely care for this patient population.