Bladder Cancer

Your bladder is a hollow balloon-like organ that holds urine until you urinate. Bladder cancer is the out-of-control growth of cells in your bladder.

• Smoking cigarettes raises your chances of getting bladder cancer

• About 3 times as many men as women get bladder cancer

• The first symptom of bladder cancer is usually blood in your urine

• Bladder cancer is usually treated with surgery

The Urinary Tract

Risk of bladder cancer is increased by:

• Smoking, which causes about half of new bladder cancer cases

• Exposure to certain industrial chemicals

• Long-term use of certain medicines

Schistosomiasis, a disease that occurs in tropical climates, also increases the risk of bladder cancer. In schistosomiasis, a certain parasite can infect the bladder.

The most common symptom is:

• Blood in your urine

Other symptoms include:

• Pain and burning while you urinate

• The need to urinate right away and often

Symptoms of bladder cancer may be the same as symptoms of a bladder infection. Bladder infections are much more common than bladder cancer, but it's possible to have both.

Doctors may suspect bladder cancer if:

• You have blood in your urine but don't have a urinary tract infection (UTI)

• You keep getting treated for a bladder infection but your symptoms don't go away

To know for sure if you have bladder cancer, doctors will do:

• Cystoscopy

• Biopsy

In cystoscopy, doctors look inside your bladder with a small viewing tube. They put the tube in through the hole where your urine comes out (your urethra). You'll get medicine so it doesn't hurt. If they see something that might be cancer, they do a biopsy. In a biopsy, they take a sample of tissue to test in the laboratory.

If you have bladder cancer, doctors may do other tests, such as CT (computed tomography) scan and chest x-ray, to see if the cancer has spread.

If your cancer is only on the inner surface of the bladder, doctors will:

• Remove the cancer during cytoscopy

• Put medicine into the bladder after the cancer is gone

Cancer may regrow after it's removed.

If your cancer can't be removed by cytoscopy, doctors will:

• Take out part or all of your bladder

• Do chemotherapy

• Sometimes, do radiation

If doctors take out your bladder, they'll create a new way for urine to leave your body. They may put in an artificial bladder or make an opening in your belly for urine to drain into a bag.