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Symptoms of Bladder Cancer
Common symptoms of bladder cancer
include:
-
Blood in the urine (making the
urine slightly rusty to deep red)
-
Pain during urination
-
Frequent urination, or feeling
the need to urinate without results.
These symptoms are not sure signs
of bladder cancer. Infections, benign tumors, bladder stones,
or other problems also can cause these symptoms. Anyone with
these symptoms should see a doctor so that the doctor can
diagnose and treat any problem as early as possible.
Staging
Staging is a careful attempt to
find out whether the cancer has invaded the bladder wall,
whether the disease has spread, and if so, to what parts of the
body.
These are the main features of
each stage of the disease:
-
Stage 0 -- The cancer cells are
found only on the surface of the inner lining of the bladder.
The doctor may call this superficial cancer or carcinoma in
situ.
-
Stage I -- The cancer cells are
found deep in the inner lining of the bladder. They have not
spread to the muscle of the bladder.
-
Stage II -- The cancer cells
have spread to the muscle of the bladder.
-
Stage III -- The cancer cells
have spread through the muscular wall of the bladder to the
layer of tissue surrounding the bladder. The cancer cells may
have spread to the prostate (in men) or to the uterus or
vagina (in women).
-
Stage IV -- The cancer extends
to the wall of the abdomen or to the wall of the pelvis. The
cancer cells may have spread to lymph nodes and other parts
of the body far away from the bladder, such as the lungs.
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