Bladder Cancer
By Olivia Krehbiel
Definition of Bladder Cancer
What happens to the cells? Bladder Cancer begins with the uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells. The cancerous cells spread throughout the lining of the bladder, making it very weak.
What part of the body does it generally affect? Bladder Cancer generally affects the bladder, but can spread to the lymph nodes, other organs in the pelvis, liver and lungs.
Description of the Symptoms
All possible affects of Bladder Cancer on the body- Symptoms of Bladder Cancer include blood in your urine, frequent urination, painful urination, back pain and pelvic pain.
Possible Causes of Bladder Cancer
Are there environmental or health factors that can cause Bladder Cancer? Smoking cigarettes, exposure to arsenic in drinking water and occupational exposure to aromatic amines are things that can increase the risk of getting Bladder Cancer.
Can it be inherited? No
Prevention
What can be done to prevent it? Bladder Cancer is non preventable but the risk of getting it can be lowered y not smoking, not being exposed to industrial chemicals, and eating healthy.
How is Bladder Cancer Treated?
What things are done for treatment? The only treatments for Bladder Cancer are surgery to get it removed, chemotherapy to kill the cancerous cells, radiation to kill the cancerous cells, having a healthy diet, and not smoking.
How Bladder Cancer is Diagnosed
What tests are done? The most common tests are physical exams and cystoscopy. The physical exams consists of a rectal exam, a prostate or pelvic exam, and a urine test. A cystoscopy is when the doctors put a tube with a small light and lens or camera into your bladder to let them look to see if there are any cancerous tumors.
What are scans done with? Pelvic MRI's are usually the only scan done. A Pelvic MRI is an imaging test that uses a machine that creates pictures from powerful magnets and radio waves.
How Many and what Type of People are Likely to Have Bladder Cancer?
Is it more common in a certain group of people? Smokers and people who eat very unhealthy have a better chance of getting it. Also, men get it much more than women and white people get diagnosed with it almost twice as often as black people.
How common is it? Men have about a 1 in 26 chance of getting it and women have about a 1 in 90 chance of getting it
What I learned
I learned a lot about Bladder Cancer from this project. I never realized how deadly it is and how often the treatments don't work. Many more people get diagnosed with it than I ever thought and before I researched Bladder Cancer, I would have guessed that women have a much more likely chance of getting it but actually men do. This project helped me learn a lot about Bladder Cancer and also other kinds of cancers that have similar treatments and symptoms.