• Bladder Cancer Treatment

Bladder Cancer Treatment

Bladder cancer is a health condition when malignant tumors start growing in the urinary bladder. These abnormal cells multiply without any control in the bladder. The treatment of bladder cancer is done depending upon the depth the tumor enters into the bladder wall. There are ways that are employed to treat this disease, and different techniques are used to treat bladder cancer, depending upon the stage of the disease.

One of the very common techniques to treat bladder cancer is surgery. Different types of surgical techniques are used for the purpose. Transurethral resection (TUR) is a surgery in which a a thin lighted tube is inserted into the bladder through the urethra, and a tool with a small wire loop on the end is then used to remove the cancer or to burn the tumor away with high-energy electricity (fulguration). Other surgical techniques like radical cystectomy and segmental cystectomy are also used where either the entire cancer affected bladder is removed from the body (former) or just a part of the bladder is removed (latter).

One of the most studied and commonly prescribed way for bladder cancer treatment is to introduce an agent called BCG into the cancer affected bladder. This immunotherapeutic agent (BCG) stimulates an immune response or cause inflammation of the bladder wall that destroys cancer cells within the bladder. This technique is employed to treat stage 0 and I bladder cancer but is used most commonly to prevent the bladder cancer from returning. BCG is most often used after cancer has been removed from the bladder using TUR surgery.

One more type of cancer treatment used to cure bladder cancer is radiation therapy. Generally, high energy x-rays or other strong radiations are exposed to the cancer cells to kill them. While external radiation therapy technique uses some machine outside the body to target the cancer cells, internal radiation therapy technique places radioactive materials directly near target cancer cells through means like needles, seeds, wires etc.

Chemotherapy is a technique that makes use of chemical drugs for treating bladder cancer. Chemotherapy is given by two ways - one where the drug is taken by mouth or injected into the body, and the other where the chemical drug is placed directly into the bladder. In former case, the drug flows with the body fluids and reaches the cancer affected bladder. The drug after reaching the target place either kills the cancerous cells or stop the cells from dividing.

The facility of treatment for bladder cancer is available in many hospitals around the United States. Cancer Treatment Centers of America is a network of cancer treatment hospitals and facilities, having their centers at Philadelphia (PA), Zion (IL), Tulsa (OK) and Goodyear (AZ). MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas is a place that is involved in research and treatment of bladder cancer. Apart from these locations, there are several other cancer treatment centers that offer the treatment for bladder center.