Bladder Cancer Treatment: Choosing Right Cancer Treatment As Per The Stage

The urinary tract is one of the most crucial systems in the body. The main function of the urinary system is to remove urine from the body through various organs. This system includes kidneys, ureter, urethra, and the urinary bladder. The renal pelvis of the kidneys stores the urine passes them through the urethra to the urinary bladder.

The urethra takes the urine from the bladder and removes it from the body while urinating. The bladder is one of the most crucial organs, which facilitates the excretory system’s proper functioning. Among various urinary system cancers, urinary bladder cancer is quite common and has various Bladder cancer treatment types to recover.

Bladder cancer

A layer of urothelial cells lines the bladder, the renal pelvis, and the ureters. Now when these cells grow rapidly and multiply out of control. They tend to cause a mass of a cell; now, the cell’s mass is called a tumor. The tumor can be either benign or cancerous. Benign tumors do not cause cancer and quite rare when it comes to urinary bladders. But, cancerous tumors are one is the reason for worry.

In many cases of a cancerous tumour, they can be malignant. This means they tend to spread to other parts of the urinary tract, especially the urinary tract’s upperparts. Most urinary bladder cancer is of this type only.

Types of bladder cancer

When it comes to bladder cancer, three types are the most common. These cancers are classified based on how the cancerous tumour cells look while being seen under the microscope.  The three types of bladder cancer are:

• Squamous cell carcinoma: This type of cancer counts over 4 per cent of the total bladder cancers. Urinary bladder cell lining tends to have squamous cells that develop due to inflammations. In some cases, the squamous cells get malignant and start growing into cancerous tumours.
• Urothelial carcinoma: This cancer is also called UCC or TC (transitional cell carcinoma). The cells that line the urinary tract tend to become cancerous and grow into tumours causing cancer. This type of cancer spreads to the upper level of the track and leads to kidney cancer. This cancer is the most common among the three.
• Adenocarcinoma: This is the rarest form of bladder cancer. This happens when the epithelial cells of the urinary bladder tend to grow and become a cancerous tumour.

Types of treatment

After a full diagnostic of the cancer types and the stage of cancer, the doctor will recommend one or a few ways of treating bladder cancer. Here are some of the most popular Bladder cancer treatment procedures:

• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy can be either systemic for the whole body or intravesical that is for the bladder only. Chemotherapy is used for stopping the progression of cancer and also for lower-stage cancer.
• Immunotherapy: In immunotherapy, the immune system is targeted to make it more active in fighting off the cancer cells in the bladder.
• Targeted therapy: When none of the treatment works, the targeted therapy is used to treat the cancerous cells in the urinary bladder.
• Radiation therapy: When the cancer is in its early stage or when surgery is not an option, radiation therapy is used to kill the bladder’s carcinogenic cells.
• Surgery: Lastly, surgery is sought when other treatments do not work. In this, the cancer cells are removed surgically.

Seeing the right doctor and getting cancer diagnosed in time can open many options for successful treatment.