The incidence of bladder cancer has remained high in recent decades and is on the rise every year. Once a patient has bladder cancer, troubles follow. First of all, patients are afraid of surgery because it will bring certain pain to the patients themselves whether minimally invasive surgery is performed or not. Secondly, the degree of malignancy of bladder cancer determines the way of surgery and prognosis, as well as the degree of impact on patients and their families.
1. If it is superficial bladder cancer, minimally invasive surgery can also be performed, which is not a big blow to the patient, but in order to prevent recurrence (recurrence rate of bladder cancer is over 70%), repeated ureter insertion for 12-16 times for bladder irrigation with chemotherapy drugs is also required after surgery, and cystoscopy is also required every 3 months, which may lead to urethral infection and urethral stricture, and a total of 5 years of review follow-up is required to determine whether the disease has been cured. That’s 5 years of trouble for the patient!
2. If the cystoscopic diagnosis is a more malignant invasive bladder cancer, most require radical total cystectomy with urinary diversion (in situ bladder or ileal bladder, ureteral skin fistula, etc.). Whether or not minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopy, etc.) is performed, the surgical risk is great, and even a good urinary diversion surgery will bring great inconvenience to the patient’s life.
3. For some advanced metastatic bladder cancer, all treatments may be ineffective, which will surely cause great pain to the patients and their families.
As you can see, no matter what type of bladder cancer you have or what the “best” treatment is, it will be a big blow to the patient! The only “best treatment” is to prevent the occurrence of bladder cancer. Long-term heavy smoking and alcohol abuse are most likely to lead to bladder cancer, so quitting smoking and avoiding alcohol is the “best doctor” for bladder cancer prevention and treatment.