What is the treatment for bladder cancer?

Dr Rob explains all you need to know about bladder cancer including signs, symptoms and treatment.

Transcript

00:00 My name is Professor Robert Thomas. I'm a consultant oncologist specialising in

00:05 urological malignancies. Now the treatment for early bladder cancer is

00:09 primarily surgical. The urological surgeon will remove the tumour through a

00:15 cystoscope, then after that install a form of chemotherapy called mycomycin C

00:21 into the bladder. The sample is then sent to the pathologist and if indeed it is

00:26 confirmed to be a cancer and it hasn't grown through the muscle wall so it's an

00:31 early bladder cancer, the treatment then consists of six weekly infusions, either

00:39 of a form of chemotherapy called mycomycin C or something called BCG

00:45 which is actually a TB vaccination. The patient has to come into a room very

00:51 much like this and have a catheter inserted into the bladder and then

00:56 usually a highly qualified urology nurse will make up the solution, inject it into

01:02 the bladder and it has to stay there for, if it's BCG, two hours or mycomycin C,

01:08 one hour. So the procedure goes very much like this. This catheter which is

01:15 very small diameter goes in to the bladder, usually with some lubrication to

01:22 ease it. Most often a local anaesthetic is not used but I've been reassured that

01:28 it's not too uncomfortable and then the BCG or the mycomycin C is connected to

01:35 this apparatus and it is primed with some liquid to dilute it and then this

01:41 is injected through the catheter into the bladder and then after that the

01:47 catheter is usually removed and the infusion stays in the bladder for about

01:52 two hours and then it's just passed normally. With the catheter removed the

01:57 patient is asked to move about so the liquid swills around into the hole of

02:02 the inside of the bladder and then it's just passed normally. After treatment

02:08 there's usually some cystitis which can be uncomfortable for many men or women

02:12 and this goes on weekly for six weeks and then that's the end of the initial

02:18 treatment. Of course the patient needs to come back for regular check-ups to make

02:23 sure the tumour doesn't come back but fortunately with early bladder cancer,

02:29 especially if they're of a lower grade, the chance of relapse is very small.

02:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]