New Urine Test Helps Detect Bladder Cancer
Results Within an Hour, Study Shows
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Tuesday, February 15, 2005
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Feb. 15, 2005 -- A new simple test may make it easier to detect bladder cancer. Results can be calculated in less than an hour, before a patient even leaves the doctor's office.
However, the test doesn't single-handedly tell patients whether they have bladder cancer. No method perfectly diagnoses the disease, so doctors use several screening tools. The new test would be one more way to check for bladder cancer, the fifth most common cancer in America.
This year, more than 63,000 bladder tumors will be diagnosed and more than 13,000 people will die of the disease, predicts the American Cancer Society.
Like many cancers, early detection greatly improves the chances of survival. If identified early, 95% of bladder cancer patients survive at least five years -- a time period commonly used when discussing cancer survival.
However, if bladder cancer is found after it spreads beyond the superficial layers of the lining of the bladder, five-year survival rates drop significantly. Diagnosing bladder cancer, especially after seeing blood in the urine (the most common sign), is done by various methods, including directly visualizing the bladder through a flexible scope which has a tiny camera attached. The flexible cystoscopy can have problems with seeing the inside of the bladder, especially when there is inflammation.
Men are more at risk for bladder cancer than women. The risk is also greater for people older than 60 and those who have been exposed to environmental or occupational toxins such as exposure to aniline, a chemical used in medical and industrial dyes.
Smoking is the leading risk factor for bladder cancer. Cigarette smoking doubles bladder cancer risk and accounts for 50% of the bladder cancer deaths in men and 30% in women. The numbers are cited by experts including H. Barton Grossman, MD, of the urology department at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
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