Risk factors and prevention of bladder cancer

Risk factors and prevention of bladder cancer

Risk factors 

  • Smoking: more than half of bladder cancer cases are attributable to it. The smoking (cigarettes, pipes or cigars) are almost three times more likely than non-smokers to have cancer of the bladder1.
  • Prolonged exposure to certain chemical products industrial (tars, coal oil and pitch, coal combustion soot, aromatic amines and N-nitrodibutylamine). Workers in the dyeing, rubber, tar and metallurgical industries are particularly threatened. Bladder cancer is one of three occupational cancers recognized by the World Health Organization3. Any bladder cancer must therefore seek an occupational origin.
  • Some pharmaceuticals containing cyclophosphamide, used in particular in chemotherapy, can cause urothelial cancer.

  • La radiotherapy of the pelvic region (the pelvis). Some women who have had radiation therapy for cervical cancer may later develop a bladder tumor. Prostate cancer treated with radiation therapy may also increase the risk of bladder cancer, but only after 5 years (4).

 

Prevention

Basic preventive measures

  • Do not smoke or quit smoking considerably reduces the risks;
  • People exposed to chemical products carcinogens during their work must comply with safety protocols. Screening examinations should be performed 20 years after the start of exposure to these products.

Diagnostic and extension assessment

Diagnostic assessment

Apart from the clinical examination, several studies are useful for the diagnosis:

• Urine examination to rule out infection (ECBU or cyto-bacteriological examination of the urine).

• Cytology looking for abnormal cells in the urine;

• Cystoscopy: direct examination of the bladder by inserting a tube containing optical fibers into the urethra.

• Microscopic examination of the removed lesion (anatomo-pathological examination).

• Fluorescence examination.

Assessment of extension

The purpose of this assessment is to find out whether the tumor is only localized to the bladder wall or whether it has spread elsewhere.

If it is a superficial tumor of the bladder (TVNIM), this extension assessment is in principle not justified except for performing a urological CT scan to look for other damage to the urinary tract. .

In the event of a more invasive tumor (IMCT), the reference examination is a CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis (lower part of the abdomen where the bladder is located) to determine the impact of the tumor , as well as its extension to lymph nodes and other organs.

Other explorations may be necessary depending on the case.

 

 

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