Is There Anything I Can Do To Keep It From Coming Back? The prevention of bladder tumor recurrences is a combined effort between you and your physician. All of the risk factors for getting bladder cancer still apply. Quitting smoking is always at the top of the list, as well as avoiding other carcinogens on [...]

Urachal carcinoma is an uncommon type of bladder cancer. At the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of the largest centers in the world, only 42 cases of urachal carcinoma were seen during a 16-year period. It affects men and women equally, although patients are usually younger than most bladder cancer patients. It is a cancer [...]

Dysplasia is not well studied, but it is not thought to be dangerous. It represents an in-between category that is neither normal nor cancerous. Approximately one third of patients with pure dysplasia will have irritative voiding symptoms, one third will have hematuria, and one third will have no symptoms at all. Some patients will have [...]

Dysplasia is a description of the appearance of cells under the microscope. They do not appear normal, but they also do not have the usual hallmarks of cancer. It is often found nearby either carcinoma in situ or bladder cancer. More than 50% of patients with bladder cancer have dysplasia. It is more common in [...]

Carcinoma in situ of the bladder is a type of cancer. Carcinoma in situ in other parts of the body, such as the prostate, cervix, or testicle, is thought to be a premalignant condition, but in the bladder it is always malignant. If untreated, 50% of cases will progress to muscle-invasive cancer within 5 years, [...]

When we refer to someone as being “cured” of a dis-ease, we generally mean that the disease is gone forever and will not recur. When we refer to a person’s cancer as cured, we generally refer to a period that must elapse with no evidence of recurrence. For many patients, there is indeed a cure [...]

Bladder cancer is not contagious. It cannot be transmit-ted from person to person. You cannot spread it to your family or friends, and they cannot catch it from you. As we just mentioned, however, family members do tend to be exposed to similar toxins, such as cigarette smoke and environmental chemicals; thus, they may have [...]

People who have family members with bladder cancer do have a slightly increased risk of developing bladder cancer themselves. The increased risk is usually because people who live together are exposed to similar amounts of cigarette smoke, chemicals, pollutants, dietary risks, and other factors present in the environment. In rare families, genetic abnormalities are associated [...]

The overall chance of developing bladder cancer during your lifetime is 3% to 4%. This type of number, however, lumps the entire world into one group. In order to create a more meaningful number, researchers try to identify who is at a higher or lower risk. Factors in the environment or one’s lifestyle that increase [...]

The risk of developing bladder cancer appears to corre-late with fat and cholesterol intake. Some studies have suggested that eating a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet that is high in fruits and vegetables may decrease your risk of developing bladder cancer. A recent study from Japan showed a decreased risk of bladder cancer in patients who had [...]

There are several known risk factors for bladder cancer. By far the biggest cause of bladder cancer in the United States is cigarette smoking. Other risk factors are exposure to aniline dyes, recurrent urinary tract infections, chronic foley catheters, bladder stones, and previous radiation to the pelvis as treatment for another cancer. Also, there may [...]

As we alluded to previously here, not everyone has the same risk of developing cancer. By studying the characteristics of patients who have bladder cancer, researchers have been able to identify groups of people who seem to develop the disease more often than others. These groups of people each have some risk factor that they [...]

Absolutely! Some risk factors, such as your genes,can-not be changed. Many more, however, can be changed. Cigarette smoking is the biggest risk factor for getting bladder cancer. If you are a smoker, the most important thing you can do is to quit today. If someone you live with smokes, encourage that person to quit also. [...]

Cancer, including bladder cancer, develops because of changes in the DNA of a normal cell. DNA can be damaged by chemical exposures such as cigarette smoke, industrial chemicals, chemotherapy, and so forth.  Environmental exposures such as these are called risk factors. Risk factors do not exactly cause bladder cancer. Not everyone who smokes will get [...]

Yes. There are two broad types of cancers in the bladder: primary and metastatic. Primary bladder cancers are those that begin in the bladder itself. Metastatic cancers are those that originated in another organ and then spread to the bladder. Other tumors can get into the bladder through the bloodstream, through the lymphatic system, or [...]

Cancer is one of the major causes of death and  disease throughout the world. If all types of cancer are combined,it ranks as the second leading cause of death in the United States today behind heart disease. As treatments for heart disease continue to improve, it has been estimated that within the next 5 to [...]

Bladder cancer is a malignant overgrowth of the cells of the bladder. Most commonly, the growth occurs in cells that are in the urothelium. The lining of most hollow spaces in the body is made of  epithelial cells. The lining of the inside of your cheek, for instance, is an epithelial cell lining. Also, the [...]

To understand  cancer, we must first understand nor-mal functioning of the body. The body is made up of billions of cells. Each organ of the body is made up of several different types of specialized cells. For example, the liver has cells that filter toxins from the blood, and the brain has nerve cells (called [...]

Yes. You can live without a bladder. However, you still need something that can perform the two basic functions of the bladder: storing and emptying of urine. Physicians have come up with many ways over the years to accomplish these tasks, many of which are still used today. The simplest alternative is to place drainage [...]

The  bladder is the container in the body that stores urine. The other term for bladder is “vesical,” which is derived from the Latin word vesicular. The bladder is a soft, round structure that is located in the pelvis. The pubic bone is in front of the bladder; the  rectum in men or the  uterus [...]