Bladder

Alan Yagoda, MD
  
Bladder tumors account for about 4 percent of new cancers (51,200 cases) in the United States. Bladder cancer ranks as the fourth most common cause of cancer in men and ninth in women, and causes almost 3 percent of cancer deaths, about 9,900. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in patients over 75. While the average age of people who get bladder cancer is 68, this tumor is found in people as young as 45 to 55 years old.
    Its origin is associated with certain chemical substances that induce or promote the growth of cancer (carcinogens). Men get it at a rate three times higher than women because of their greater exposure to such carcinogens in the workplace.
    Five-year survival rates over the past 30 years have improved from 50 percent to over 70 percent, partly because the disease is being found in earlier stages when current therapies can be effective. Over 70 percent of cases are now being discovered with local tumors within the bladder. Only 20 percent have regional disease just outside the bladder, while 3 percent have distant metastases.

Types  The urinary tract is lined with what are called transitional cells , and more than 90 percent of bladder cancers originate from these cells. The layer of three to four transitional cells lining the bladder can grow to six or