Bladder Cancer Is It Curable

Is Cancer Of The Bladder Curable

Bladder cancer is highly treatable when it is diagnosed in the early stages. The main types of treatments for bladder cancer include: Surgery : Bladder cancer treatment almost always has a surgical component that may be combined with other non-invasive approaches, including those listed below.

Does bladder cancer usually come back?

Low-grade bladder cancers recur frequently, and recurrences require treatment with a procedure called transurethral resection for bladder tumor, or TURBT. Some patients experience multiple recurrences and, as a result, undergo repeated surgeries.

Can you live a long life with bladder cancer?

The general 5-year survival rate for people with bladder cancer is 77%. However, survival rates depend on many factors, including the type and stage of bladder cancer that is diagnosed. The 5-year survival rate of people with bladder cancer that has not spread beyond the inner layer of the bladder wall is 96%.

Latest Treatment For Bladder Cancer

Intravesical therapy is a newer treatment for people who have bladder cancer. With intravesical therapy, the doctor puts a liquid medication right into your bladder rather than administering it orally or injecting it into your blood. The medication is put in through a catheter thats placed into your bladder through the urethra. The medication stays in your bladder for up to two hours, so it can affect the cells lining the inside of the bladder without having major effects on other parts of your body. Intravesical therapy is commonly used after transurethral resection of bladder tumor . Its often performed within 24 hours of the TURBT procedure. The goal is to kill any cancer cells that may be left in the bladder.

Intravesical chemotherapy is used to treat non-invasive bladder cancer. It is used for these early-stage cancers because medication given this way mostly affects the cells lining the inside of the bladder. It has little to no effect on cells elsewhere. This means any cancer cells outside of the bladder lining are not treated by intravesical chemotherapy.

Remission And The Chance Of Recurrence

A remission is when cancer cannot be detected in the body and there are no symptoms. This may also be called having no evidence of disease or NED.

A remission may be temporary or permanent. This uncertainty causes many people to worry that the cancer will come back. While many remissions are permanent, it is important to talk with your doctor about the possibility of the cancer returning. Understanding your risk of recurrence and the treatment options may help you feel more prepared if the cancer does return. Learn more about coping with the fear of recurrence.

If the cancer returns after the original treatment, it is called recurrent cancer. It may come back in the same place , nearby , or in another place .

If a recurrence happens, a new cycle of testing will begin again to learn as much as possible about it. After this testing is done, you and your doctor will talk about the treatment options.

People with recurrent cancer sometimes experience emotions such as disbelief or fear. You are encouraged to talk with your health care team about these feelings and ask about support services to help you cope. Learn more about dealing with cancer recurrence.

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Cancer May Spread From Where It Began To Other Parts Of The Body

When cancer spreads to another part of the body, it is called metastasis. Cancer cells break away from where they began and travel through the lymph system or blood.

• Lymph system. The cancer gets into the lymph system, travels through the lymph vessels, and forms a tumor in another part of the body.
• Blood. The cancer gets into the blood, travels through the blood vessels, and forms a tumor in another part of the body.

The metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if bladder cancer spreads to the bone, the cancer cells in the bone are actually bladder cancer cells. The disease is metastatic bladder cancer, not bone cancer.

Low Grade And High Grade

Bladder cancer can also be described as either low grade or high grade.

Low grade bladder cancer means that your cancer is less likely to grow, spread and come back after treatment. High grade means your cancer is more likely to grow spread and come back after treatment.

For example, if you have early bladder cancer but the cells are high grade, youâre more likely to need further treatment after surgery. This is to reduce the risk of your cancer coming back.

Low grade is the same as grade 1. High grade is the same as grade 3. Grade 2 can be split into either low or high grade. Carcinoma in situ tumours are high grade.

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What Are The Symptoms Of Bladder Cancer

Many people with bladder cancer can have blood in their urine but no pain while urinating. There are a number of symptoms that might indicate bladder cancer like fatigue, weight loss, and bone tenderness, and these can indicate more advanced disease. You should pay particular attention to the following symptoms:

• an intravenous pyelogram

Your doctor can rate bladder cancer with a staging system that goes from stages 0 to 4 to identify how far the cancer has spread. The stages of bladder cancer mean the following:

• Stage 0 bladder cancer hasnt spread past the lining of the bladder.
• Stage 1 bladder cancer has spread past the lining of the bladder, but it hasnt reached the layer of muscle in the bladder.
• Stage 2 bladder cancer has spread to the layer of muscle in the bladder.
• Stage 3 bladder cancer has spread into the tissues that surround the bladder.
• Stage 4 bladder cancer has spread past the bladder to the neighboring areas of the body.

Your doctor will work with you to decide what treatment to provide based on the type and stage of your bladder cancer, your symptoms, and your overall health.

Having Chemotherapy With Your Main Treatment

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. For muscle-invasive and locally advanced bladder cancer, you may have chemotherapy:

• before surgery or radiotherapy, to shrink the cancer and reduce the risk of it coming back. This is called neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

• with radiotherapy, to make treatment work better. This is called chemoradiation.

• after surgery, if there is a high risk of the cancer coming back .

• Visit our bladder cancer forum to talk with people who have been affected by bladder cancer, share your experience, and ask an expert your questions.

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Second Opinion For Peace Of Mind

Desperate for Hope,

I am very sorry for the situation. I can image the anguish you are having with the occurrence. Your bravery surprises me and I applaud you for the evident efforts you are doing to have the best diagnosis and treatment for your husband. He is very fortunate.I do not want my comments to distract you from your good work, however, I think you should get second opinions from an independent physician/radiologist, which opinion would provide you the deserved peace of mind.

The information you share above allows a newer perception of the diagnosis following your post of Oct 17. Things are moving fast and spinning around.The MRImp will add information for what has been found . Probably this MRI exam will conclude the process of staging and the story so far is not pleasant. Cancer spread into the bladder, if any, up to the ureters tubes are still classified localized but the probable T3 is now/becomes T4 disease. This may be the basis of the radiologist that follows the CAR guilines in radiotherapies.

Max above is also suspicious of the affair. The clinical trial of your link is sponsored by the University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, now recruiting patients. Logically a number of hospitals/clinics and physicians are in charge of supplying patients. I believe your urologist to make part of their list for his proposal to you.

I would appreciate if you can post the images taken in the cystoscopy.

Best of lucks,

What about Clinical Trials?

Prognosis And Survival For Bladder Cancer

If you have bladder cancer, you may have questions about your prognosis. A prognosis is the doctors best estimate of how cancer will affect someone and how it will respond to treatment. Prognosis and survival depend on many factors. Only a doctor familiar with your medical history, the type and stage and other features of the cancer, the treatments chosen and the response to treatment can put all of this information together with survival statistics to arrive at a prognosis.

A prognostic factor is an aspect of the cancer or a characteristic of the person that the doctor will consider when making a prognosis. A predictive factor influences how a cancer will respond to a certain treatment. Prognostic and predictive factors are often discussed together. They both play a part in deciding on a treatment plan and a prognosis.

The following are prognostic and predictive factors for bladder cancer.

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The Role Of Chemotherapy In Treatment Of Organ Confined Muscle

If the bladder cancer has invaded the muscle of the bladder wall, then there is a very high risk that the patient will die of bladder cancer unless with either or radical is done. Although radical cystectomy or radical radiotherapy offers the best chance of cure, unfortunately up to half of these people still go on to die of bladder cancer. This is usually due to the cancer returning in the region of the bladder, existing unsuspected spread to or, more typically, in other parts of the body such as the lymph nodes, lungs, liver or bones. For many cancers this risk of can be reduced or delayed by giving before and/or after surgery or radical radiotherapy. However, these treatments are associated with significant side effects. These side effects may be more problematic in people with other illnesses or people who are generally less fit.

There Are Different Types Of Treatment For Patients With Bladder Cancer

Different types of treatment are available for patients with bladder cancer. Some treatments are standard , and some are being tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment. Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.

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Patients May Want To Think About Taking Part In A Clinical Trial

For some patients, taking part in a clinical trial may be the best treatment choice. Clinical trials are part of the cancer research process. Clinical trials are done to find out if new cancer treatments are safe and effective or better than the standard treatment.

Many of today’s standard treatments for cancer are based on earlier clinical trials. Patients who take part in a clinical trial may receive the standard treatment or be among the first to receive a new treatment.

Patients who take part in clinical trials also help improve the way cancer will be treated in the future. Even when clinical trials do not lead to effective new treatments, they often answer important questions and help move research forward.

The Following Stages Are Used For Bladder Cancer:

Stage 0

In stage 0, abnormalcells are found in tissue lining the inside of the bladder. These abnormal cells may become cancer and spread into nearby normal tissue. Stage 0 is divided into stages 0a and 0is, depending on the type of the tumor:

• Stage 0a is also called noninvasive papillary carcinoma, which may look like long, thin growths growing from the lining of the bladder.
• Stage 0is is also called carcinoma in situ, which is a flat tumor on the tissue lining the inside of the bladder.

Stage I

In stage I, cancer has formed and spread to the layer of connective tissue next to the inner lining of the bladder.

Stage II

In stage II, cancer has spread to the layers of muscle tissue of the bladder.

Stage III

Stage III is divided into stages IIIA and IIIB.

• cancer has spread from the bladder to the layer of fat surrounding the bladder and may have spread to the reproductive organs and cancer has not spread to lymph nodes or
• cancer has spread from the bladder to one lymph node in the pelvis that is not near the common iliac arteries .

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Treating Bladder Cancer That Progresses Or Recurs

If cancer continues to grow during treatment or comes back after treatment , treatment options will depend on where and how much the cancer has spread, what treatments have already been used, and the patient’s overall health and desire for more treatment. Its important to understand the goal of any further treatment if its to try to cure the cancer, to slow its growth, or to help relieve symptoms as well as the likely benefits and risks.

For instance, non-invasive bladder cancer often comes back in the bladder. The new cancer may be found either in the same place as the original cancer or in other parts of the bladder. These tumors are often treated the same way as the first tumor. But if the cancer keeps coming back, a cystectomy may be needed. For some non-invasive tumors that keep growing even with BCG treatment, and where a cystectomy is not an option, immunotherapy with pembrolizumab might be recommended.

Cancers that recur in distant parts of the body can be harder to remove with surgery, so other treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or radiation therapy, might be needed. For more on dealing with a recurrence, see Understanding Recurrence.

Considering Complementary And Alternative Methods

You may hear about alternative or complementary methods that your doctor hasnt mentioned to treat your cancer or relieve symptoms. These methods can include vitamins, herbs, and special diets, or other methods such as acupuncture or massage, to name a few.

Complementary methods refer to treatments that are used along with your regular medical care. Alternative treatments are used instead of a doctors medical treatment. Although some of these methods might be helpful in relieving symptoms or helping you feel better, many have not been proven to work. Some might even be harmful.

Be sure to talk to your cancer care team about any method you are thinking about using. They can help you learn what is known about the method, which can help you make an informed decision.

• Complementary and Integrative Medicine

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Turbt/ Repeat Resection: Timing Technique Goal Indication

Guideline Statement 12

12. In a patient with non-muscle invasive disease who underwent an incomplete initial resection , a clinician should perform repeat transurethral resection or endoscopic treatment of all remaining tumor if technically feasible.

Discussion

Incomplete resection is likely a significant contributing factor to what have been described and diagnosed as early recurrences, as tumors have been noted at the first follow-up cystoscopic evaluation in up to 45% of patients. 57 The Panel recognizes specific, albeit rare, circumstances in which transurethral resection is not likely to impact clinical management and may be omitted for patients with incompletely resected non-muscle invasive disease. Examples of such patients include those with large-volume, high-grade tumors not amenable to complete endoscopic resection for whom immediate radical cystectomy is planned. An additional example includes those patients with a tumor diagnosed within a bladder diverticulum and for whom subsequent surgical resection is planned. However, for the majority of patients, complete resection is essential for adequate staging and optimal clinical management. Although surgeons may utilize BLC for this situation, of note, there is insufficient evidence in this repeat transurethral resection setting to support the routine use of enhanced or BLC versus standard WLC, particularly in light of the noted increase in false positive diagnosis with BLC following recent TURBT. 116-118

Discussion

Is There A Cure For Bladder Cancer

28/02/2022 ·Bladder cancer is usually treatable when caught at an early stage but more challenging to address when found later. Recurrence also poses a risk, even with early-stage tumours, so regular surveillance is essential following treatment or surgery. What Affects Survival Rate and What Treatment Options Are Available. Bladder Cancer Grade.

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What To Do Before And After Treatment

Talk with your doctors about whether you need to do anything to prepare for treatment and help your recovery. Some things they may suggest are to:

• Stop smoking if you smoke, aim to quit before starting treatment. If you keep smoking, you may not respond as well to treatment and you may have more treatment-related side effects. Continuing to smoke also increases your risk of cancer returning.
• Begin or continue an exercise program exercise will help build up your strength for treatment and recovery. It can also help you deal with side effects of treatment.
• Improve diet aim to eat a balanced diet with a variety of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and protein. Eating well can improve your strength and you may respond better to treatment.
• See a physiotherapist they can teach you exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, which help control how your bladder and bowel work. These exercises are useful if you have a neobladder, a partial cystectomy, or radiation therapy.