Let’s gain some knowledge about the bladder before we hop on to the depressing disease. The bladder is located at the lowest part of the abdomen. It appears like a small balloon with muscular walls, which contracts and relaxes according to the urine flow. The urine travels from both the kidneys, which filters the blood. They filtered waste left, travels in the form of urine through a long pipe called ureter which connects to the bladder. The bladder acts as a depository till it the time to excrete.
Urinary Bladder Cancer
Bladder cancer is the situation when the bladder tissue settles for malignant cancerous cells by giving up the healthy ones. A common catalyst, promoting tumor growth in the bladder is smoking. Facts depict that older people are more prone to bladder cancer. About 90% of the total bladder cancer community are over 55 years of age. It’s also, the 4th most common cancer. It’s even said that men are 4 times more prone to develop bladder cancer than women.
Symptoms
Such widely present disease surely has to leave some signs. However, having one or two of these signs doesn’t mean you actually have cancer. Your doctor might shed some light on the topic. The signs are
- Blood in urine
- Pain while urinating
- Frequent urination
- Acute lower back pain
Tests
There are a number of ways one can determine if he actually has bladder cancer or not. Your doctor might perform some of these tests to figure out. You will need to get these recommended tests done from a laboratory. And if you are wondering that where I can get my lab test near me, then you should visit health testing centers.
Physical examination- A simpler version of diagnostics, by physically searching for any signs and symptoms like any lumps or any diverges around the bladder area. The patient’s history of bladder disease or any family history of bladder cancer will be accounted for too.
Urinalysis – A simple test to check the urine contents. Generally, the test marks for any sugar, protein, red or white blood cells in the urine.
Urine Cytology – The urine samples are examined under the microscope or any abnormal cell development.
Cystoscopy
In this procedure, a cystoscope is inserted into the patient’s bladder. A thin tube-like apparatus, mounted with a lens and a light, to closely examine the abnormal bumps in the bladder regions. The instrument also has a tissue sample remover, for a better study of the abnormal region afterward.
Biopsy – This method marks for the removal of cells from the suspected region for a deep microscopic study. Biopsy of bladder cancer is conducted alongside cystoscopy only.
Treatment
Cancer Hospital for Treatment of Urinary Bladder in Delhi constitutes 3 major treatment options
Surgery
There are a number of ways in which a surgery could be conducted, but they all share the same idea. The affected tissue is surgically removed along with some surrounding healthy tissue. This method probably is the last resort as a treatment. For a stage 2 patient, the surgery success rate is recorded at 63% which drops as the stage elevates. For stage 3 the chances drop to 46% and by the time the patient reaches stage 4, their survival becomes drastically steep by 15%.
Chemo and Radiation therapy
Both chemo and radiation therapy work by attacking the cancer cells. Chemo does this by using high-intensity medication and Radiation through extreme x-rays. Both are done to bring the tumor size to a treatable level.
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