Question

Research paper on bladder cancer

ur Research Paper must include the following: .General description or statement about the disease/disorder/issue. Impact of the disease/disorder/issue. Causes and/or risk factors associated with the disease/disorder/issue. Prevention strategies associated with the disease/disorder/issue. Signs and symptoms of the disease/disorder/issue. General treatment methods.

Answer 1

Bladder cancer starts when cells that make up the urinary bladder start to grow out of control. As more cancer cells develop, they can form a tumor and, with time, spread to other parts of the body. The bladder is a hollow organ in the lower pelvis. It has flexible, muscular walls that can stretch to hold urine and squeeze to send it out of the body. The bladder's main job is to store urine. Urine is liquid waste made by the 2 kidneys and then carried to the bladder through 2 tubes called ureters. When you urinate, the muscles in the bladder contract, and urine is forced out of the bladder through a tube called the urethra.

Bladder cancer occurs bladder cells become abnormal and grow out of control. Over time, a tumor forms. It can spread to nearby lymph nodes and other organs. In severe cases, it can spread to distant parts of your body, including your bones, lungs, or liver. Bladder cancer occurs in men more frequently than it does in women and usually affects older adults, though it can happen at any age. Bladder cancer most often begins in the cells (urothelial cells) that line the inside of your bladder — the hollow, muscular organ in your lower abdomen that stores urine. Although it's most common in the bladder, this same type of cancer can occur in other parts of the urinary tract drainage system.

Types of bladder cancer:

Transitional cell carcinoma

Transitional cell carcinoma is the most common type of bladder cancer. It begins in the transitional cells in the inner layer of the bladder. Transitional cells are cells that change shape without becoming damaged when the tissue is stretched.

Urothelial carcinoma, also known as transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), is by far the most common type of bladder cancer. In fact, if you have bladder cancer it's almost certain to be a urothelial carcinoma. These cancers start in the urothelial cells that line the inside of the bladder. Urothelial cells also line other parts of the urinary tract, such as the part of the kidney that connects to the ureter (called the renal pelvis), the ureters, and the urethra. People with bladder cancer sometimes have tumors in these places, too, so all of the urinary tract needs to be checked for tumors.

Squamous cell carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma is a rare cancer in the United States. It begins when thin, flat squamous cells form in the bladder after a long-term infection or irritation in the bladder. It is seen with a microscope, the cells look much like the flat cells that are found on the surface of the skin. Nearly all squamous cell carcinomas of the bladder are invasive.

Adenocarcinoma

Adenocarcinoma is also a rare cancer in the United States. It begins when glandular cells form in the bladder after long-term bladder irritation and inflammation. Glandular cells are what make up the mucus-secreting glands in the body. These cancer cells have a lot in common with gland-forming cells of colon cancers . Nearly all adenocarcinomas of the bladder are invasive.

Small cell carcinoma

Less than 1% of bladder cancers are small-cell carcinomas. They start in nerve-like cells called neuroendocrine cells. These cancers often grow quickly and usually need to be treated with chemotherapy like that used for small cell carcinoma of the lung.

Sarcoma

Sarcomas start in the muscle cells of the bladder, but they are very rare. More information can be found in Soft Tissue Sarcoma and Rhabdomyosarcoma.

These less common types of bladder cancer (other than sarcoma) are treated a lot like TCCs, especially early-stage tumors, but if chemotherapy is needed, different drugs might be used.

Symptoms

Bladder cancer signs and symptoms may include:

•     Blood in urine (hematuria)
•     Painful urination
•     Pelvic pain

These symptoms are nonspecific. This means that these symptoms are also linked with many other conditions that have nothing to do with cancer. Having these symptoms does not necessarily mean you have bladder cancer.

If you have any of these symptoms, you should see your health-care professional right away. People who can see blood in their urine (gross hematuria), especially older males who smoke, are considered to have a high likelihood of bladder cancer until proven otherwise.

Blood in the urine is usually the first warning sign of bladder cancer; however, it is also associated with a number of benign medical problems such as urinary tract infection, kidney/bladder stones, and benign tumors and does not mean a person has bladder cancer. Unfortunately, the blood is often invisible to the eye. This is called microscopic hematuria, and it is detectable with a simple urine test. In some cases, enough blood is in the urine to noticeably change the urine color, gross hematuria. The urine may have a slightly pink or orange hue, or it may be bright red with or without clots. If your urine changes color beyond just being more or less concentrated, particularly if you see blood in the urine, you need to see your health-care professional promptly. Visible blood in the urine is referred to as gross, or macroscopic, hematuria.

Bladder cancer often causes no symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage that is difficult to cure. Therefore, you may want to talk to your health-care professional about screening tests if you have risk factors for bladder cancer. Screening is testing for cancer in people who have never had the disease and have no symptoms but who have one or more risk factors.

Causes

Bladder cancer develops when cells in the bladder begin to grow abnormally. Rather than grow and divide in an orderly way, these cells develop mutations that cause them to grow out of control and not die. These abnormal cells form a tumor.

Causes of bladder cancer include:

•     Smoking and other tobacco use
•     Exposure to chemicals, especially working in a job that requires exposure to chemicals
•     Past radiation exposure
•     Chronic irritation of the lining of the bladder
•     Parasitic infections, especially in people who are from or have traveled to certain areas outside the United States

It's not always clear what causes bladder cancer, and some people with bladder cancer have no obvious risk factors.

Diagnostics

Your doctor may diagnose bladder cancer using one or more of the following methods:

• a urinalysis
• an internal examination, which involves your doctor inserting gloved fingers into your rectum to feel for lumps that may indicate a cancerous growth
• a cystoscopy, which involves your doctor inserting a narrow tube that has a small camera on it through your urethra to see inside your bladder
• a biopsy in which your doctor inserts a small tool through your urethra and takes a small sample of tissue from your bladder to test for cancer
• a CT scan to view the bladder
• an intravenous pyelogram (IVP)
• X-rays

Your doctor can rate bladder cancer with a staging system that goes from stages 0 to 4 to identify how far the cancer has spread. The stages of bladder cancer mean the following:

    Stage 0 bladder cancer hasn’t spread past the lining of the bladder.
    Stage 1 bladder cancer has spread past the lining of the bladder, but it hasn’t reached the layer of muscle in the bladder.
    Stage 2 bladder cancer has spread to the layer of muscle in the bladder.
    Stage 3 bladder cancer has spread into the tissues that surround the bladder.
    Stage 4 bladder cancer has spread past the bladder to the neighboring areas of the body.

Risk factors

Factors that may increase bladder cancer risk include:

• Smoking. Smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes may increase the risk of bladder cancer by causing harmful chemicals to accumulate in the urine. When you smoke, your body processes the chemicals in the smoke and excretes some of them in your urine. These harmful chemicals may damage the lining of your bladder, which can increase your risk of cancer.
• Increasing age. Bladder cancer risk increases as you age. Bladder cancer can occur at any age, but it's rarely found in people younger than 40.
• Being white. White people have a greater risk of bladder cancer than do people of other races.
• Being a man. Men are more likely to develop bladder cancer than women are.
• Exposure to certain chemicals. Your kidneys play a key role in filtering harmful chemicals from your bloodstream and moving them into your bladder. Because of this, it's thought that being around certain chemicals may increase the risk of bladder cancer. Chemicals linked to bladder cancer risk include arsenic and chemicals used in the manufacture of dyes, rubber, leather, textiles and paint products.
• Previous cancer treatment. Treatment with the anti-cancer drug cyclophosphamide increases the risk of bladder cancer. People who received radiation treatments aimed at the pelvis for a previous cancer have an elevated risk of developing bladder cancer.
• Chronic bladder inflammation. Chronic or repeated urinary infections or inflammations (cystitis), such as might happen with long-term use of a urinary catheter, may increase the risk of a squamous cell bladder cancer. In some areas of the world, squamous cell carcinoma is linked to chronic bladder inflammation caused by the parasitic infection known as schistosomiasis.
• Personal or family history of cancer. If you've had bladder cancer, you're more likely to get it again. If one of your first-degree relatives — a parent, sibling or child — has a history of bladder cancer, you may have an increased risk of the disease, although it's rare for bladder cancer to run in families. A family history of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, also called Lynch syndrome, can increase the risk of cancer in the urinary system, as well as in the colon, uterus, ovaries and other organs.

Treatment

Your doctor will work with you to decide what treatment to provide based on the type and stage of your bladder cancer, your symptoms, and your overall health.

Treatment for stage 0 and stage 1

Treatment for stage 0 and stage 1 bladder cancer may include surgery to remove the tumor from the bladder, chemotherapy, or immunotherapy, which involves taking a medication that causes your immune system to attack the cancer cells.

Treatment for stage 2 and stage 3

Treatment for stage 2 and stage 3 bladder cancer may include:

• removal of part of the bladder in addition to chemotherapy
• removal of the whole bladder, which is a radical cystectomy, followed by surgery to create a new way for urine to exit the body
• chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or immunotherapy that can be done to shrink the tumor before surgery, to treat the cancer when surgery isn’t an option, to kill remaining cancer cells after surgery, or to prevent the cancer from recurring

Treatment for stage 4 bladder cancer

Treatment for stage 4 bladder cancer may include:

• chemotherapy without surgery to relieve symptoms and extend life
• radical cystectomy and removal of the surrounding lymph nodes, followed by a surgery to create a new way for urine to exit the body
• chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy after surgery to kill remaining cancer cells or to relieve symptoms and extend life
• clinical trial drugs

Prevention

Although there's no guaranteed way to prevent bladder cancer, you can take steps to help reduce your risk. For instance:

• Don't smoke. Not smoking means that cancer-causing chemicals in smoke can't collect in your bladder. If you don't smoke, don't start. If you smoke, talk to your doctor about a plan to help you stop. Support groups, medications and other methods may help you quit.
• Take caution around chemicals. If you work with chemicals, follow all safety instructions to avoid exposure.
• Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables. Choose a diet rich in a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables. The antioxidants in fruits and vegetables may help reduce your risk of cancer.