Bladder cancer ranks third among the urological cancers that most affect men, only behind prostate and kidney cancer.
“Bladder cancer equally affects men and women aged 30 and 40 or older and is more common in men, with tobacco consumption being the predominant factor in suffering from it,” said Arturo Mendoza Valdés, a urologist at the Médica Sur hospital in Mexico City and who participates in an event in Mérida in which leading specialists in the field address this and other topics related to oncological problems in the urinary tract.
The also member of the Mexican Society of Urology and the Mexican Association of Oncological Urology explained that tobacco, due to all its chemical components, causes smokers to be between three and five times more likely to develop bladder cancer. In high-smoking countries, such as France and Spain, bladder cancer is a national health problem.
In Mexico, smoking is not as prevalent compared to other nations, so bladder cancer is apparently not as common; However, it is something that should concern everyone.
Tobacco predisposes to hypertension and heart attacks, esophageal, kidney and bladder cancer.
Warning sign
The first warning sign of this disease is hematuria, that is, the presence of blood in the urine. The red color of urine is a warning sign but many times general practitioners and patients think that it is the product of a urinary infection.
A urinary infection is not only blood in the urine, it is also burning, a feeling of not having finished urinating and the need to do so becomes more frequent, but if these last symptoms do not occur and there is no fever then we must act accordingly. immediate.
Urologists treat 25% of cases in advanced stages and 45% in initial stages, the possibilities of cure are very high in their incipient phases.
Confirmation of the diagnosis is achieved through a computed axial tomography with contrast medium. Once the tumor is detected, a systoscopy is performed through the urethra and it is removed endoscopically (transurethral resection of the tumor). A biopsy is taken, which is sent to Pathology to identify the type of cancer, the degree of aggressiveness and how much it is invading.
When it does not invade the muscular layer of the bladder and has a low degree of aggressiveness, only periodic systoscopic surveillance is followed. But if the tumor is aggressive and invaded part of the structure, there is a 50 to 80% chance of recurrence.
For patients in the latter case, the treatment consists of applying the BCG bacillus, which causes tuberculosis, to the affected area through immunotherapy.
This procedure helps the person’s immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells.
BCG therapy is the most common intravesical immunotherapy for the treatment of early-stage bladder cancer. BCG is a germ that is related to the germ that causes tuberculosis (TB), but it usually does not cause serious illness. When it is administered to the bladder through a catheter through which a liquid flows, it helps “activate” the immune system cells there, which will attack the cancer cells in the bladder. The body creates antibodies, reducing the risk of recurrence and progression to 10 and 15%.
Surveillance should continue every three months and apply BCG strain once a week for six weeks, or in extreme cases every six months for three weeks for three years.
It is a simple treatment, it does not require chemotherapy or hospitalization, the person returns to their daily activities immediately and there is no hair loss, it is a very benign treatment with no side effects.
Developed in 1976 by the Colombian specialist Álvaro Morales, since 1987 it has been the treatment par excellence throughout the world. Currently, the Danish strain developed by TEVA is a reference as an effective treatment.— Emanuel Rincón Becerra
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2024-05-03 16:29:37