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.

The Prostate...

The prostate is a little like your car - as long as it's not causing any problems you don't think about it much.  But when it does, it can be a small problem that is easily fixed, or a big problem that requires a lot of time and energy to fix... but either way it becomes something you have to think about a lot.  

Unlike a car, a prostate is free.  Men are born with a prostate gland.  It starts to enlarge around the age of 45 or 50 and may cause bothersome symptoms such as needing to get up more at night to urinate or a weak urine stream as it gets bigger.  Some men never have any problems with this until they are much older.  Chances are if your dad or brothers had an enlarged prostate you probably will, too but whether or not you will have symptoms is completely unpredictable.

Prostates can also get inflamed or infected in any age man.  If this happens, you might experience pain with urination, pain in around your rectum or pain with ejaculation.  This can be pretty severe pain accompanied by a fever or even inability to urinate in really bad cases. You will definitely need to see your doctor for any problems like this, the sooner the better.

Besides getting larger with time, prostates can also develop cancer.  The two main risk factors for prostate cancer are being male and age, neither of which can be controlled.  A close relative such as your father or brother with prostate cancer makes it more likely that you could develop cancer as well.

Just like preventative maintenance on a car, there are certain recommendations for "prostate maintenance".  The American Urological Association recommends yearly screening for prostate cancer in men with no symptoms at age 50.  This is involves a digital rectal exam and a PSA test which is performed on a blood sample.  Men at higher risk, such as African American men or men with a family history of prostate cancer should be screened earlier, often starting at age 40.  The decision when to start screening should be discussed with your doctor as many factors besides just age go into the decision.

Your urologist is the best person to have a detailed discussion about specific questions you may have about your prostate.  The Mayo clinic has an excellent page about prostate cancer screening which you might want to read.  You can access it at the following address:

www.mayoclinic.com/health/prostate-cancer/HQ01273#

Only one more week until spring!