Understanding Bladder Cancer After Deion Sanders’ Diagnosis

Despite being one of the most common cancers affecting men, bladder cancer often flies under the radar, at least in terms of public awareness.

The disease, which is more than three times as likely to be found in men, recently popped into headlines when University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders revealed his successful fight against bladder cancer.

Each year, more than 84,000 people are diagnosed with the disease, which is heavily linked to smoking. Another key risk factor is exposure to toxins encountered by painters, metal workers, miners, firefighters and people working in plastic manufacturing.

Diagnosing Bladder Cancer

There is no standard screening tool like those used to detect prostate, breast, colorectal and lung cancers. That means the disease is more likely to be diagnosed when symptoms become severe, or through lab tests for another health concern.

The most common symptom is blood in your urine. In extreme cases, this could turn urine bright red. But in early stages, the amount is often small enough that it only shows up during a lab test.

Most of the common symptoms are easy to ignore, since they often mimic those found with urinary problems commonly encountered by aging adults.

Those symptoms include:

• Frequent need to urinate
• Painful or burning sensation during urination
• Waking up often during the night to urinate
• Feeling like you have to go, even when your bladder isn’t full

These less common symptoms may appear with large tumors or if the cancer spreads to other parts of the body:

• Inability to urinate
• Pain in your lower back on one side of your body
• Abdominal pain
• Pain or tenderness in your bones
• Unexplained weight loss
• Loss of appetite
• Swollen feet
• Unexplained tiredness

Treating Bladder Cancer

Treatment for bladder cancer is largely dictated by the type of tumor.

The first type is called non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), a less aggressive form that isn’t a threat to leave the bladder, which could cause incurable metastatic disease. However, this form of bladder cancer can return, over and over. Treatment includes scraping off the bladder tumors, possibly followed by chemotherapy or immunotherapy to keep it under control.

A more aggressive form is called muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). This more worrisome tumor can grow through the bladder’s muscle wall and into surrounding lymph nodes, bones and beyond, where it becomes incurable.

If the tumor is detected before it leaves the bladder, aggressive treatment usually calls for removal of the bladder and nearby lymph nodes – if the patient is healthy enough for the procedure. Treatment also includes a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy to make sure the cancer is eliminated. Cure rates are as high as 75 percent.

Patients who are older or who have health issues may not be eligible for bladder removal. The alternative is a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Life-Changing Procedure

If the bladder is removed, there are obvious implications going forward. There are two options for continuing to empty urine from the kidneys:

Urostomy: The procedure creates an opening in the abdominal wall that’s used to drain urine from the kidneys into a special bag that is manually emptied.

Neobladder: This option, chosen by Sanders, creates a new bladder, using a section of the small intestine. The procedure allows you to urinate the same way you always have. But it does take effort and time to retrain your body to recognize how your new bladder is communicating its need to empty.

Long-Term Outlook

Bladder cancer has high survival rates thanks to its level of treatability. The tricky cases are the 25 percent of patients who experience a recurrence. Those cancers, along with others that have become metastatic, can be aggressive.

But even in those cases, improving treatment options have significantly changed the outlook for patients, who are able to live many years with incurable bladder cancer.

The key is to be vigilant regarding symptoms. And don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor about subjects – your changing urinary habits, for example – you may find uncomfortable. There’s nothing you can tell your doctor that they haven’t heard before.

You know your body better than anyone. If something doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t make sense to wait. Ask your doctor.