Bladder Cancer Treatment
Bladder cancer can be treated like any other cancer, that is, with the help of the three major treatment modalities, consisting of either surgery (excision or sectioning), chemotherapy, or radiotherapy. These may be used in isolation, though frequently two or sometimes even all three modalities are used in conjunction with one or more of the other modalities. Of course, there are new treatment methods available as well for the treatment of bladder cancer. This new treatment modality is referred to as biologic therapy. Here we will assess each of these treatment modalities, the procedures involved as well as the general expectations that patient and / or their families should or should not have from these treatment methods.
Surgery is by far the most reliable and popular means of completely freeing the body of the cancerous mass. As a matter of general procedure, a specific margin of healthy tissue is excised along with the diseased tissue in order to prevent remission or spread through unprecedented diseased tissue.
There are a number of surgical procedures that can be used to treat bladder cancer, and the choice of any of these depends both upon the extent of spread of the disease as well as the physician’s experience and preference, although the former plays a major role in forming the physician’s preference too. The different surgical procedures employed in the treatment of bladder cancer are:
Urinary Diversion: in this surgery the whole bladder is affected, therefore an alternative way is made for the urine to pass out of the body.
Segmental Cystectomy: a part of the bladder is removed.
Radical Cystectomy: the whole bladder is removed, along with a few of the neighboring tissue nerves and lymph nodes. This is done in cases where the cancer has been invasive, and there is no other choice but to surgically remove all diseased tissue as well as a ‘safety’ margin of healthy tissue, as well as lymph nodes through which cancer can spread to other parts of the body.
TUR or Trans Urethral Resection: this is generally done in minor tumors or in cases that have been detected in an early stage. This is the least invasive of all surgical procedures and is accompanied by a fulguration procedure which uses electricity to ‘blast off’ or kill cancerous tissue. All of this is done via the urethra and is therefore less risky than open surgeries.