Is Surgery Always Necessary?

Transcript

Let’s talk about nonsurgical treatments for bladder cancer. At least to make the diagnosis and to accurately stage a bladder cancer, an initial surgical procedure is usually required. But for cancers that are just on the surface, typically all that’s required is periodic looks inside the bladder with a procedure called cystoscopy in the office, combined with periodically putting medications to decrease the chance of regrowth.

If a patient has a tumor that has invaded into the wall of the bladder, and does not want major surgery for bladder removal, there is an alternative. This is called a bladder preservation protocol. The goal is to preserve the bladder and allow the patient to avoid major surgery. In this approach, it’s a combination of an aggressive scraping procedure, radiation to the bladder, and chemotherapy.

Key Takeaways

1. At least to make the diagnosis and to accurately stage a bladder cancer, an initial surgical procedure is usually required.

2. For surface cancers, typically all that’s required is periodic looks inside the bladder with a cystoscopy, combined with periodic medications to decrease the chance of regrowth.

3. If a tumor has invaded into the wall of the bladder, there is an alternative to surgery called a bladder preservation protocol.

4. The goal is to preserve the bladder with a combination of an aggressive scraping procedure, radiation to the bladder, and chemotherapy.