Who is included in the study? 

345 people with bladder cancer joined the study from 49 hospitals in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Everyone had cancer that had invaded the muscle layer of the bladder, but had not spread elsewhere. People could have chemotherapy before joining the trial and could also have chemotherapy during their radiotherapy.

What are the study treatments? 

RAIDER included three treatment groups:

• Standard dose radiotherapy given to the whole bladder
• Standard dose radiotherapy targeted on the bladder cancer, with a lower dose given to the rest of the bladder
• Higher dose radiotherapy targeted on the bladder cancer, with a lower dose given to the rest of the bladder

Radiotherapy was given daily over 4 or 7 weeks, depending on the standard schedule used at participants’ hospitals. 

Participants have regular check ups during and after their treatment and we collect information about how they are getting on for five years after they join the trial.

Study results 

Plain English summary of results

Primary publication

Results infographic

Contact details and regulatory information 

Chief Investigator: Prof Robert Huddart, The Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust 

ICR-CTSU scientific lead: Prof Emma Hall

Trial management contact: [email protected]

Sponsor: The Institute of Cancer Research 

Funding: Cancer Research UK (CRUK/14/016)

Trial identifiers 

REC reference: 15/LO/0539

ISRCTN26779187

NCT02447549

Publications and presentations 

Hafeez S, Griffin C, Choudhury A, Foroudi F, Syndikus I, Hindson B, Webster A, McNair H, Birtle A, Varughese M, Henry A, McLaren DB, Parikh O, Nikapota A, Tang C, Patel E, Miles E, Warren-Oseni K, Kron T, Hill C, Philipps L, Vassallo-Bonner C, Cheung KC, Gribble H, Lewis R, Hall E. Dose-escalated Adaptive Radiotherapy for Bladder Cancer: Results of the Phase 2 RAIDER Randomised Controlled Trial. Eur Urol. 2024;10.1016/j.eururo.2024.09.006.

Huddart R, Hafeez S, Omar A, Alonzi R, Birtle A, Cheung KC, Choudhury A, Foroudi F, Gribble H, Henry A, Hilman S, Hindson B, Lewis R, Muthukumar D, McLaren DB, McNair H, Nikapota A, Olorunfemi A, Parikh O, Philipps L, Rimmer Y, Syndikus I, Tolentino A, Varughese M, Vassallo-Bonner C, Webster A, Griffin C, Hall E. Acute Toxicity of Hypofractionated and Conventionally Fractionated (Chemo)Radiotherapy Regimens for Bladder Cancer: An Exploratory Analysis from the RAIDER Trial. Clinical Oncology. 2023 Sep 1;35(9):586–97.

Webster A, McNair HA, Hansen VN, Lewis R, Patel E, Miles E, Hall E, Hafeez S, Huddart R. Recognising the challenges of implementing multi-centre adaptive plan of the day radiotherapy. Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncology. 2022 Mar 1;21:31–5.

Webster A, Hafeez S, Lewis R, Griffins C, Warren-Oseni K, Patel E, Hansen VN, Hall E, Huddart R, Miles E, McNair HA. The Development of Therapeutic Radiographers in Imaging and Adaptive Radiotherapy Through Clinical Trial Quality Assurance. Clinical Oncology. 2021 Jul;33(7):461–7.

Hafeez S, Lewis R, Hall E, Huddart R, Birtle A, Choudhury A, Creswell J, Foroudi F, Gribble H, Griffin C, Hall E, Hansen VN, Henry A, Hindson B, Huddart R, Kron T, Kumar P, Lewis R, McLaren D. Advancing Radiotherapy for Bladder Cancer: Randomised Phase II Trial of Adaptive Image-guided Standard or Dose-escalated Tumour Boost Radiotherapy (RAIDER). Clinical Oncology. 2021 Jun;33(6):e251–6.

Hafeez S, Lewis R, Griffin C, Hall E, Huddart R. Failing to Close the Gap Between Evidence and Clinical Practice in Radical Bladder Cancer Radiotherapy. Clinical Oncology. 2021 Jan;33(1):46–9.

Hafeez S, Webster A, Hansen VN, McNair HA, Warren-Oseni K, Patel E, Choudhury A, Creswell J, Foroudi F, Henry A, Kron T, McLaren D, Mitra A, Mostafid H, Saunders D, Miles E, Griffin C, Lewis R, Hall E, Huddart R. Protocol for tumour-focused dose-escalated adaptive radiotherapy for the radical treatment of bladder cancer in a multicentre phase II randomised controlled trial (RAIDER): radiotherapy planning and delivery guidance. BMJ Open. 2020 Dec 31;10(12):e041005.