if you have bladder cancer, how do doctors treat it.?

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Bladder cancer (most commonly Transitional Cell Carcinoma, or Urothelial Carcinoma) is a disease in which surgery is the primary treatment modality, especially in the more advanced stages. A radical cystectomy (in which the bladder is removed along with prostate, etc) is done and usually a neobladder is reconstructed using a section of the intestinal tract.

If the cancer is removed in its entirety but is involving the bladder muscles, there is a high chance of recurrence. Therefore, adjuvant chemotherapy (i.e. chemo after surgery) is given to reduce the likelihood of a relapse. In the case that the cancer is locally advanced and/or metastatic, the cure rate drops significantly but survival can still be improved by giving chemotherapy (it would be considered a salvage therapy at this point).

The chemotherapy regimen is either a standard 4 drug regimen using Mitoxantrone, Vincristine, Adriamycin, and Cytoxan(MVAC), or more recently, a 2 drug regimen of Gemcitabine and Cisplatin (GC) which patients can tolerate easier and which is thought to be similarly effective.

It is important to work with the Urologist and Medical Oncologist to determine the most appropriate treatments to undergo and whether other management options are available.

My brother has bladder cancer, and at first they watched it to make sure it did not come back. When it did come back, he had chemo, which did not make him sick, and since then it has never come back again.

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if you have bladder cancer, how do doctors treat it.?

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