Urinary Tract Cancers

Introduction

Urinary Tract Cancers can occur anywhere alone the tract from the kidneys, to the ureter, to the bladder, or past the bladder into the urethra. Penile Cancer and Testicular Cancer also grouped with Urologic Cancers.

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Causes

Causes of cancers of the genitourinary tract are numerous. There are likely genetic factors that predispose individuals to get this type of cancer. Environmental exposures are also known to contribute to cancers of the bladder. In particular, patient's you are heavy cigarette smokers tend to be at higher risk.

Clinical Manifestations and Diagnosis

Bladder cancer is often detected as blood in the urine. Most often, blood in the urine represents a kidney stone, but these kidney stones often cause pain. If the patient has blood in the urine without pain, a bladder cancer is suspected. Additional testing including cystoscopy, where a urologist uses a small scope inserted into the bladder, and sometimes a biopsy are required for diagnosis.

Treatment Strategies

Treatment for kidney cancer often includes surgery to resect the cancer and sometimes chemotherapy afterwards. Bladder cancers can be treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Alternatively, the urologist can maximally resect the bladder tumor endoscopically, and then the patient can receive chemotherapy and radiation together to kill any microscopic residual disease. This is often a good option for patients who would like to keep their bladder and not have it resected surgically.

Prognosis and prognostic factors

Each patient has a unique cancer type and stage with different underlying risk factors. During a oncology consultation visit, your oncologist with discuss Ask your doctor about the expected outcomes.

Treatment Side Effects

Radiation treatment side effects tend to affect the tissues that are close to the tumor where the radiation is directed. Some side effects can be more pronounced during and shortly after radiation treatment (acute side effects). While other side effects may occur many months or years after treatment (chronic or late side effects).