Bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is a scary disease. It is more common in men, and more common in people over the age of 40. Cigarette smoking is a known risk for developing bladder cancer. At present, there is no recommended routine screening test for bladder cancer but certain symptoms or problems suggest the need to be checked. These are:

Blood in the urine

Pain during urination

Urinary frequency

If you have any of these symptoms, your doctor will check your urine and look for other causes besides cancer. If your doctor suspects bladder cancer, you will likely have a CAT scan or other test to examine your kidneys and you will also need to have a cystoscopy. A cystoscopy is a test where your doctor will look inside your bladder with a special camera that can examine the lining of the bladder. If anything abnormal is found, biopsies are taken to make a diagnosis.

Probably the best advice we can give you at this time to prevent developing bladder cancer is not to start smoking, or if you do smoke, STOP. It is difficult to stop smoking, in fact, the nicotine in cigarettes is one of the most addicting substances known. Your doctor can help you stop smoking with a variety of methods if you want to stop. At our office Dr. Roesel will be happy to talk to you about quitting smoking. Just ask. We are happy to help.