Cancer of the Bladder

Cancer of the bladder implies to any malignant growth in the urinary bladder. They are characterized by abnormal cell multiplications. The urinary bladder is the organ responsible for storing the excreted urine; they are located in the pelvic region.

Signs and symptoms

There are many traits in the cancer of the bladder, particularly blood in urine, can be seen by the eye, or microscopically. Some pain also includes pain in urination, urinary frequency, dribbling, and same results related in urine. This kind of symptoms can be a sign of some diseases too like prostate infection and inflammations on the cyst.

Risk factors

Those who are very exposed to the environmental carcinogens have developed urinary bladder cancer. Those who love to smoke particularly tobacco have the 50% chance to developed cancer of the bladder. Those who have environmental exposure a mere fraction of 30%, with carcinogens in the workplace had been experiencing bladder tumors. Meanwhile, bladder cancer is not considered to be inherited or does not run in families...

Diagnosis

Urologists are the doctors who study the various types of diseases which pertain to urine. There are ways to know if you have bladder cancer like the use of cystoscopy; a camera will be inserted to your bladder to the urethra to know if you have the disease. There is also a biopsy procedure for those who have lesions and will be sent for an analysis.

Staging

Like in any other cancer classifications, bladder cancer can be identified with different stages. This staging is called the TNM (Tumors, Lymph Nodes, and Metastases) Classification

Stage 0: Those cancerous cells have already been seen in the inner lining of urinary bladder.

Stage I: The cancerous cells spread already and they already metastasize beyond the linings but not the affecting the muscles of the bladder.

Stage II: The muscles in the urinary bladder are now already affected but they do not include the surrounding fatty tissues of the bladder.

Stage III: those cells of cancer have metastasized up to the fatty tissues that surrounds the urinary bladder, to various organs like the prostate, vagina, uterus. Limitations will be on lymph nodes and some other organs.

Stage IV: those cancerous cells metastasized to the lymph nodes, pelvis, or what they call the abdominal wall, as well as the other organs.

Recurrence:

There are tendencies that a cancerous cell will reoccur in the urinary bladder, on an another organ after it was treated.

Cancers are treated depending on how deep the tumor is to the walls of the urinary bladder. That tumor that does not yet enter the layers of urinary muscle walls can be treated by an electrocautery that will be attached to a cystoscope.

If left untreated these tumors may now start to metastasize in the muscular walls of the urinary bladder. Those who already metastasized in the bladder are now needed to have a surgical type of treatment to removed parts or the whole urinary bladder.