En-bloc laser resection of the urinary bladder tumor

Currently, transurethral resection of a bladder tumor (TUR) is the gold standart treatment for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Standard TUR for a bladder wall tumor has a high recurrence rate, which is caused mainly by malignant cell implantation during the surgery. Besides, specimens obtained with conventional TUR are insufficient for accurate pathological staging. The non-conformity of the standard TUR with the established oncological principle of dissecting through normal tissue prompted a search for the optimal surgical modality. En-bloc resection of the bladder wall tumor has been proposed as an alternative method for surgical management of NMIBC. This technique involves the resection of bladder tumor through the underlying muscle layer as a single piece thus providing high quality material for subsequent morphological study and reducing the risk of metastasizing by implantation of malignant cells. This paper presents an analysis of relevant research literature published in the last twenty years, describes all currently existing techniques of the bladder tumor resection using a variety of energy sources, including laser.