What Is New In Bladder Cancer Research

By Luisa Sharpe


Looking into bladder cancer research offers new hope for early detection and treatment for those who are afflicted by it. Early detection has been a problem for patients and doctors alike because advanced cancers are more likely to be lethal. New treatments are also being sought by scientists as a means of saving lives.

These studies are very effective at finding whether or not the cancers are returning through the discovery of specific proteins in the urine of the patient. It is being tested for initial discovery of tumors. The BTA test has proven accurate but can also be tainted by other conditions and give false positives in patient results.

Transitional cell cancers are the most common type of cancers detected by the NMP22 test. This test looks to the nucleus of proteins involved. Everyone has these proteins in their bodies but they are found in very small numbers. An elevated count of this protein serves as a red flag to doctors when they conduct this analysis.

A newer test than NMP22 has proven to be just as useful for detection of TCC. The Mcm5 is used in concert with the NMP22 and they can find TCC earlier than any other method. These three tests are not generally used unless other methods have proven ineffective.

The method doctors most commonly use to find tumors is to use the cystoscopy system which is very effective and invasive. The doctor must insert a camera into the bladders of their patients after a liquid has been injected that helps illuminate the tumor and blood vessels that feed it. This procedure would need to be done regardless of any other tests that have been done.

Treatment studies are also being conducted by many labs. One notable study is photodynamic therapy where your doctor puts the drug directly into bladders through using catheters and later fills them with saline solution. A special light is then directed at the lining of the organ and the light activates the drug. This process directly kills the cancerous cells, damages the blood vessels that feed the tumor and trigger your immune system to destroy the tumor.

The best treatment results are achieved when therapies are combined to fight the disease. Chemotherapy shrinks the tumors, radiotherapy serves to prevent reappearance of them and surgery removes the offending tissue. Another part of the combination is over oxygenation of the area that is affected because cancerous cells die easier when they have an excess of oxygen.

Biological therapies are the use of naturally produced body substances against the cancerous cells and tumors. Many medications have been created from body substances and they are proving to be quite effective in the fight against cancer. These drugs are being used in many different types of this disease and many new drugs are being produced along these lines of thought. Any new drugs take years to become available to the public but the progress that these studies are making move closer to public use every day.




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