Medical treatment

Standard therapies for bladder cancer include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy or biological therapy.

Surgery and radiotherapy are local treatments. This means getting rid of cancer cells in the treated area.

Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment. This means it can kill cancer cells almost everywhere in the body.

For more information about the surgery.

Radiotherapy

Radiation is a high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and normal cells in its path. Radiation can be given a small muscle-invasive bladder cancer. It 'is commonly used as an alternative approach to surgery. One of the two types of radiation may be used. However, the largest therapeutic effect, it must be administered in combination with chemotherapy:

External radiation is produced by a machine outside the body. The team target a narrow beam of radiation directly to the tumor. This form of therapy is usually spread in the short-five days a week for five to seven weeks. Helping spread this way to protect the surrounding healthy tissue by reducing the dose of each treatment. Radiation is administered in the hospital or medical center. Who attend the center every day for outpatient radiotherapy.

Internal radiation is given by placing a small pellet of radioactive material inside the bladder. The pill can be inserted into the urethra or by making a small incision in the lower abdominal wall. You must stay in the hospital throughout the treatment, which lasts several days. Visits to family and friends are limited to protect against the effects of radiation. When treatment is completed, the pellet removed, and you get to go home. This type of radiation is rarely used for bladder cancer in the United States.

Unfortunately, the radiation is not only cancer cells but also everything that touches the healthy tissue. With external radiation, covering the healthy tissue near the tumor or may be damaged. Side effects of radiotherapy depend on the dose and the area of ​​the body where radiation is concentrated.

An area in which the radiation passes through the skin may become red, sore, dry or itchy. The effect is not unlike a sunburn. Although these effects can be serious, but usually are not permanent. The skin in this area can become permanent darker, though. Internal organs, bones and other tissues may be damaged. Internal radiation has been developed to avoid these complications.

You may feel very tired during radiation therapy.

Radiation in this area, because the need for bladder cancer, can affect the production of blood cells in the bone marrow. Common effects are extreme tiredness, increased susceptibility to infections, and bruising or bleeding.

Radiation to the pelvis can also cause nausea, diarrhea, urinary problems and sexual problems such as vaginal dryness in women and impotence in men.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses powerful drugs to kill cancer. Bladder cancer, chemotherapy can be administered alone or with surgery or radiotherapy or both. It can be administered before or after other treatments. Chemotherapy is usually given oncologist's office, but it may require hospitalization.

Stage Ta, T1 bladder cancer and CIS can be treated with intravesical chemotherapy. After removal of the tumor, one or more liquid medicine into the bladder through a thin plastic tube called a catheter. The drugs remain in the bladder for several hours and then drained, commonly with urination. This treatment is usually repeated once a week for several weeks.

The cancer that has invaded deep into the bladder, lymph nodes or other organs, requires systemic chemotherapy or intravenously. Combating cancer drug is injected into the bloodstream through a vein. This drug to reach almost the entire body and, ideally, to kill cancer cells wherever they are.

Chemotherapy is well known for its unpleasant side effects. Side effects depend on the drugs you receive and how medications are administered.

The severity of these effects varies from one person. For unknown reasons, some people tolerate chemotherapy much better than others.

Some common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, hair loss, sores inside the mouth or gut, fatigue or lack of energy (due to anemia or low red blood count) , increased susceptibility to infection (due to the low number of white blood cells), and easy bruising or bleeding (because the low platelet count). Ask your oncologist about the actual effects can be expected.

These side effects are usually temporary and disappear at the end of chemotherapy.

Several studies have shown that intravesical chemotherapy is effective in reducing the recurrence rate of superficial bladder cancer in the short term.

Intravesical chemotherapy such as mitomycin C, is often given as a single dose in the bladder immediately after removal of the tumor by cystoscopy.

Intravesical chemotherapy can irritate the bladder or kidneys.

Intravesical chemotherapy is not effective in bladder cancer has already invaded the muscle wall of the bladder or spread to lymph nodes or other organs.

Immunotherapy or biological therapy

Biological therapy uses the body's natural defenses of cancer.

Your immune system are substances in the blood, work against the "invaders" such as abnormal cells (cancerous cells for example).

Sometimes the immune system is overwhelmed by aggressive cancer cells.

Biologic therapy, or immunotherapy helps strengthen the immune system to fight cancer.

Biologic therapy is usually given in stages Ta, T1 bladder cancer and CIS.

Immunotherapy or biological therapy widely used in cancer of the bladder is intravesical BCG therapy.

Fluid containing BCG, attenuated vaccine (Mycobacterium changed), are exported into the bladder through a thin catheter, which is through the urethra.

Mycobacterium in the fluid stimulates the immune system to produce anti-cancer substances.

The solution is stored in the bladder for a few hours, then drained. This treatment is repeated every week for six weeks and is repeated several times over several months or even longer in some cases. Researchers are still working to determine the best time of these treatments. Time of treatments may be needed less often.

BCG can irritate the bladder and cause minor bleeding in the bladder. The bleeding is usually invisible in the urine. You may feel the need to urinate more often than usual, or pain or burning when urinating. Other side effects include nausea, fever and chills. These result from the stimulation of the immune system. These effects are almost always temporary.