The most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine (haematuria), which usually occurs suddenly and is generally not painful. Other less common symptoms include: problems emptying the bladder. a burning feeling when passing urine.
Bladder cancer can be benign or malignant. Malignant bladder cancer may be life threatening, as it can spread quickly. Without treatment, it can damage tissues and organs.
The 5-year relative survival rate of people with bladder cancer that has not spread beyond the inner layer of the bladder wall is 96%. Almost half of people are diagnosed with this stage. If the tumor is invasive but has not yet spread outside the bladder, the 5-year relative survival rate is 70%.
Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer can often be cured. For muscle-invasive bladder cancer, prognosis also depends on whether carcinoma in situ is also present.
A non-cancerous (benign) tumour of the bladder is a growth that starts in the lining or other tissues of the bladder. A non-cancerous condition is when there is a change to bladder cells. Non-cancerous tumours and conditions do not spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body.
They put a long thin tube called a cystoscope into the opening and up into the bladder. The cystoscope has a light and camera on the end so your surgeon can see inside your bladder from a tv monitor. The surgeon uses a cutting tool to remove the cancer from the bladder. This tool uses heat to stop bleeding.
Left untreated, bladder cancer may grow through your bladder walls to nearby lymph nodes and then other areas of your body, including your bones, lungs or liver.
What are the symptoms? Bladder cancer symptoms are usually clear and easy to notice. If any of these symptoms are present, it may be worth making an appointment to see a doctor: Blood in the urine, frequent urination, painful urination or back pain.
Transurethral resection (TURBT) is often done first to find out how far the cancer has grown into the bladder wall. Chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy (removal of the bladder and nearby lymph nodes) is then the standard treatment.
Stage 4 is advanced bladder cancer. It is metastatic bladder cancer, or cancer that has spread to distant lymph nodes or organs. Stage 4 also includes cancer that has spread outside your bladder into the wall of your abdomen or pelvis.
An abnormal growth that develops in the bladder is known as a bladder tumor. Some bladder tumors are benign (noncancerous), while others are malignant (cancerous). Malignant bladder tumors – also known as bladder cancer – can spread (metastasize) into other parts of the body.
“While there are several types of benign masses that can grow in the bladder, these are uncommon and account for fewer than 1% of bladder masses," says Khurshid Guru, MD, Chair of Roswell Park's Department of Urology.
Risk of bladder cancer
Overall, the chance men will develop this cancer during their lifetime is about 1 in 28. For women, the chance is about 1 in 91. But each person's chances of getting bladder cancer can be affected by certain risk factors.
Urothelial carcinoma, also known as transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), is by far the most common type of bladder cancer. In fact, if you have bladder cancer it's almost always a urothelial carcinoma. These cancers start in the urothelial cells that line the inside of the bladder.
Usually, the early stages of bladder cancer (when it's small and only in the bladder) cause bleeding but little or no pain or other symptoms.
For most people, the first symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine, also called hematuria.
If you develop a fever over 101°, or have chills, call your surgeon. Although not common, this may indicate infection that has developed beyond the control of the antibiotics that you have taken. It will take 6 weeks from the date of surgery to fully recover from your operation.
However, this is a major operation, with a significant risk of complications and potentially, even death.
To pass urine, you pass a thin tube (catheter) into the stoma. The catheter goes all the way into the internal pouch. This allows you to control (be continent) when urine comes out. You don't have to wear a bag to collect urine, as you would after a urostomy.
Right after TURBT you might have some bleeding and pain when you urinate. You can usually go home the same day or the next day and can return to your usual activities within a week or two. Even if the TURBT removes the tumor completely, bladder cancer often comes back (recurs) in other parts of the bladder.
When bladder cancer spreads, it first invades the bladder wall, which is made up of four distinct layers. It can take some time for cancer to penetrate all of these layers, but once it has, it can then spread into the surrounding fatty tissues and lymph nodes.
Can bladder cancer go undetected for years? If symptoms such as blood in the urine and changes in urinary habits are ignored by an individual and/or repeatedly misdiagnosed, it's possible that bladder cancer may not be detected for months or, in some cases, even years.
In general, bladder cancers that are muscle invasive and/or have high-grade cells are the most serious and aggressive.
Most people diagnosed with bladder cancer are 60 years or older, but it can occur at any age. Men are around 3 times more likely than women to be diagnosed with bladder cancer.