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Bladder Cancer: Facts & Symptoms
Has your Urologist or Medical Supply Provider discussed bladder cancer risk factors with you before prescribing or sending you urinary catheters?
Know the Facts!!!
Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat from diagnosis to death. SIGN UP VOICE FOR YOUR HEALTH
Understanding Bladder Cancer
The bladder, a hollow organ located in the pelvis, stores urine before it leaves the body. The bladder is an integral part of the urinary system. The kidneys, the ureters, and the urethra also make up the urinary tract.
Shaped like a funnel, the renal pelvis collects and then sends the urine into the ureter. The ureter is the tube that runs from one kidney to the bladder. The tube that takes urine out of the body is called the urethra. The urinary tract also includes the prostate gland.
Like other parts of your urinary tract, your bladder is lined by a layer of cells called the urothelium. The lamina propria is a thin fibrous band that separates this cell layer from your bladder wall muscles.
Tumors can be either cancerous or benign. A cancerous tumor can spread to other areas of the body and grow, meaning it is malignant.
A benign tumor is one that can grow, but not spread. Benign bladder tumors are extremely rare.
Bladder Cancer: Causes, Signs & Symptoms
Bladder Cancer Risk Factors
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) lists the following as risk factors for bladder cancer.
A risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chance of developing cancer.
Some people with several risk factors never develop cancer, while others with no known risk factors do.
Knowing your risk factors and talking about them with your doctor may help you make more informed lifestyle and healthcare choices.
Clinically-Proven Risk Factors
- Tobacco use – smokers get bladder cancer 4 times more often than those who don’t smoke
- Age -The chances of being diagnosed with bladder cancer increase with age. Studies show that catheter users develop bladder cancer at an average rate of 20 years younger than the general population.
- Gender -Men are 4 times more likely to develop bladder cancer than women, but women are more likely to die from bladder cancer than men. Women may also be diagnosed with bladder cancer much later than men.
- Race -White people are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with bladder cancer as Black people, but Black people are twice as likely to die from the disease.
- Chemicals used in the textile, rubber, leather, dye, paint, plastics, and print industries -(including phthalates like DEHP)
- Chronic bladder problems like bladder stones and UTIs
- Previous radiation therapy to the pelvis
- Chemotherapy with Cyclophosphamide
- Diabetes drug Pioglitazone, taken for 1 year or more
- Previous history of bladder cancer
Catheter Users Have Higher Risks
- ASCO states “Bladder cancer is more common for people who are paralyzed, are required to use urinary catheters, and have had many urinary infections.”
- People who use catheters are more likely to develop squamous cell bladder cancer than the general population. This is an aggressive form of cancer with a lower survival rate.
- Long-term catheter users frequently have recurring, chronic bladder problems.
- 90% of catheter users surveyed in 2022 by the BetterCaths team report that their doctor or catheter supplier did not tell them if their catheter has a Prop 65 carcinogen warning label.
Catheter Users are Diagnosed
with Bladder Cancer More Often
- Studies have shown that people who cath get bladder cancer > 4 times more often than those who don’t.
- People who use urological catheters die from bladder cancer > 8 times more often than those who don’t.
Lower Your Risk Factors
Use a catheter that doesn’t have a Prop 65 cancer warning label.
Symptoms & Signs of Bladder Cancer
These symptoms and signs are common in people with bladder cancer.
Symptoms are changes that you can feel in your body.
Signs are changes in something measured, like by taking your blood pressure or doing a lab test.
A combination of symptoms and signs can help to identify a medical problem.
Sometimes people with bladder cancer don’t have all the symptoms or signs listed below.
Or, the cause of a sign or symptom may not be cancer.
Contact your doctor if you are experiencing the symptoms or signs of bladder cancer.
Blood or blood clots in urine
Pain or burning sensation
during urination
Lower back pain on
one side of the body
Frequent urination
Feeling the need to urinate
many times during the night
Feeling the need to urinate,
but not being able to pass urine
shows that because of systemic and persistent health inequities,
disabled people face the risk of dying much earlier
(up to 20 years earlier) than non-disabled people.
Survival rates can give you an idea of what percentage of people with the same type and stage of cancer are still alive a certain amount of time (usually 5 years) after they were diagnosed.
They can’t tell you how long you will live, but they may help give you a better understanding of how likely it is that your treatment will be successful.
Keep in mind that survival rates are estimates and are often based on previous outcomes of large numbers of people who had specific cancer.
They can’t predict what will happen in any particular person’s case. These statistics may lead you to have more questions.
Your doctor is familiar with your situation. Ask them how these numbers may apply to you.
Stage 0a
This is an early cancer that is only found on the surface of the inner lining of the bladder. Cancer cells are grouped together and can often be easily removed. The cancer has not invaded the muscle or connective tissue of the bladder wall.
This type of bladder cancer is also called noninvasive papillary urothelial carcinoma.
Stage I
The cancer has grown through the inner lining of the bladder and into the lamina propria.
It has not spread to the thick layer of muscle in the bladder wall or to lymph nodes or other organs.
Stage III
The cancer has spread throughout the muscle wall to the fatty layer of tissue surrounding the bladder (perivesical tissue) or to the prostate or the uterus and vagina. Or, the cancer has spread to the regional lymph nodes.
Stage IIIA: The tumor has grown into the perivesical tissue or has spread to the prostate, uterus, or vagina, but has not spread to the lymph nodes or other organs. Or, the cancer has spread to a single regional lymph node.
Stage IIIB: The cancer has spread to 2 or more regional lymph nodes or to the common iliac lymph nodes.
Stage 0is
This stage of cancer, also known as a flat tumor or carcinoma in situ, is found only on the inner lining of the bladder. It has not grown in toward the hollow part of the bladder, and it has not spread to the thick layer of muscle or connective tissue of the bladder.
This is always high-grade cancer and is considered an aggressive disease because it can lead to muscle-invasive disease.
Stage II
The cancer has spread into the thick muscle wall of the bladder. It is also called invasive cancer or muscle-invasive cancer.
The tumor has not reached the fatty tissue surrounding the bladder and has not spread to the lymph nodes or other organs.
Stage IV
The tumor has spread into the pelvic wall or abdominal wall, or the cancer has spread to lymph nodes outside of the pelvis or to other parts of the body.
Stage IVA: The tumor has spread to the pelvic wall or the abdominal wall but not to other parts of the body. Or, the cancer has spread to lymph nodes located outside of the pelvis.
Stage IVB: The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
5-year relative survival rates for bladder cancer
Based on people diagnosed with bladder cancer between 2011 and 2017.
SEER Stage
SEER Stage
In situ alone
Localized
Regional
Distant
All SEER stages combined (average)
5-year Relative Survival Rate
96%
70%
38%
6%
77%
Localized: There is no sign that the cancer has spread outside of the bladder.
Regional: The cancer has spread from the bladder to nearby structures or lymph nodes.
Distant: Cancer has spread to distant parts of the body such as the lungs, liver or bones.
People who cath get bladder cancer > 4 times more often than those who don’t.
People who use urological catheters die from bladder cancer > 8 times more often than those who don’t.
Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat from diagnosis to death.
Lower your bladder cancer risk factors.
Choose a catheter that does not have a carcinogen warning label.
Sources: American Cancer Society, Cancer.net, 2021 Canada Study