What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Bladder Cancer? And What Is The Treatment For Bladder Cancer?

What is bladder cancer?

In bladder cancer, there are one or more malignant tumors in the bladder. Bladder cancer is more common in men than in women, especially in people over 60 years.

What are the signs and symptoms of bladder cancer?

Bladder cancer shows early almost no complaints. Usually, the first of them that someone notices blood in the urine. Another time, the urine can be bright again. There is usually no pain.

Occasionally it happens that urinating hurts and that someone must urinate more often than usual. The symptoms are similar than many of the symptoms of cystitis.

It is important that you go to your doctor if there is blood in your urine, even if you're not in pain. The doctor leaves your blood and urine, and refer you to a urologist if needed.

Types of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer occurs in nine out of ten people in the lining of the bladder. The tumor can grow in two ways:

1. Only in the bladder mucosa: a superficial tumor. Such a superficial tumor is called polyp.
2. In the bladder mucosa and into the bladder muscle, a muscle-invasive tumor. A muscle-invasive tumor can grow in even within other tissues.

Both types can grow into the bladder cavity.

When a superficial tumor is not treated on time, it grows over time from the lining into the bladder muscle. This creates a muscle-invasive tumor.

Risk factors for bladder cancer

There are several things that the risk of bladder cancer more:

1. People who smoke have a greater chance of developing bladder cancer. In four out of ten patients with bladder cancer, smoking is the cause.
2. People in the textile, plastics and rubber industry for a long time have worked with certain chemicals more likely to have bladder cancer. It concerns substances such as beta-naphthylamine, benzidine and aniline. This is becoming less common because there is less work with these substances.
3. When the tropical disease schistosomiasis worms can irritate the bladder wall so that one after a time getting bladder cancer. In the Netherlands, almost never.
4. Also bladder stones irritate the bladder wall can so that someone gets bladder cancer. But that's pretty rare.
5. There is also a familial form of bladder cancer. Have two or more of your immediate relatives (brother, sister or a parent) bladder cancer, tell your doctor. Questions about heredity in bladder cancer can also be discussed with your doctor.

Like other forms of bladder cancer is not contagious.

Diagnosis of bladder cancer

To find out if you have bladder cancer, the doctor let first examine your urine. If there are abnormal cells in your urine, you get a referral to a urologist. The urologist looks with a tube in your urinary tract. This is called a cystoscopy.

During cystoscopy, the urologist can extract pieces (tumor) tissue from the bladder. The pieces of tissue are called biopsies. They go to the lab for examination. The urologist also looks at how far the tumor has grown. If the tumor is deep in the bladder wall, more research is needed. You will then get a CT scan or an MRI scan.

Bladder cancer treatment

There are several treatments for bladder cancer. Whatever treatment you get depends on whether the tumor has grown into the bladder muscle. The urologist notes with a transurethral resection. That's keyhole surgery through the urethra.

If the bladder tumor has not grown into the bladder muscle, the doctor cuts the tumor during laparoscopy away immediately.
The tumor may come back. Therefore, you get bladder washes after surgery with medication. As a result, the chance of recurrence of the tumor.

If the tumor has grown into the bladder muscle? Then you get any of these treatments:

1. An operation in which the doctor removes the entire bladder. You get a urostomy or an artificial bladder (neo-bladder). This treatment is only possible if there are no metastases.
2. If there are metastases, you will be irradiated. The irradiation can have the goal to get rid of the cancer. Then you will probably get internal radiation. The irradiation can also have the purpose to inhibit the cancer and to reduce the symptoms.
3. There are metastases, you will receive chemotherapy.

Prospects after bladder cancer

How life goes on after treatment of bladder cancer? In most patients, it succeeds to reach the tumor entirely. You are then cured. But the disease can recur. You therefore remains for a long time under control.

With metastases, the chance of cure is small. Treatment consists of a proper guidance. The doctors try to resolve your complaint as possible.