Yes; 3 is as good as 6.

The annual congress of European Society for Medical Oncology is currently underway at Berlin. Lot of exciting studies are being presented.

One of the interesting studies relate to bladder cancer. The bladder study looked at the optimum number of chemotherapy cycles that needs to be given.

Chemotherapy do cause significantly more side effects the immunotherapy. If fewer cycles are given, treatment might be more tolerable.

This bladder trial looked at giving only 3 cycles of chemotherapy compared to the standard 6 cycles.

The study found that fewer cycles improved quality of life without compromising overall benefits from the treatment

Reference

Grande E, et al. DISCUS: A phase II study comparing 3 vs 6 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy prior to maintenance avelumab in advanced urothelial cancer. ESMO Congress 2025 – LBA 109

ESMO daily reporter. Is less more for patients with genitourinary cancers? 17 Oct 2025 Christoph Oing

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