Is radiation therapy alone used to treat bladder cancer?

Historically, radiation therapy has been used for muscle invasive bladder cancer, but current treatment often involves a combined approach of both radiation and chemotherapy. The role of radiation therapy in combination with chemoradiaton therapy (combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy) is to kill the bladder cancer cells both in the bladder and outside the bladder. Local lymph nodes are frequently radiated as part of the therapy to treat the microscopic cancer cells which may be in the nodes.