Corel Medical Series: Cancer/Corel Medical Series: Cancer.iso/mac/Program/c04.dxr/00093_Field_SRC.c04.A.10.txt

Text File | 1997-01-28 | 1KB | 18 lines

• In the near future, bladder monoclonal antibodies , alone and combined with flow cytometry, should help in
  screening , diagnosis, predicting the potential for metastases, and response to therapy.

Imaging
• Intravenous pyelogram (IVP) .
• Abdominal and pelvic CT scans and chest x-rays can help find metastases to lymph nodes , liver, lungs and
  surrounding bladder structures.
• MRI and ultrasound images of the abdomen and rectal and urethral areas are not very useful.
• Bone scans and bone x-rays are used before surgery only when there is bone pain.

Endoscopy and Biopsy
• Cystoscopy is the direct visualization of the bladder by passing a small rigid or flexible tube through the
  urethra into the bladder. Biopsy of tumor masses can be done at the time of cystoscopy.
• A new investigative staging procedure uses laparoscopic surgery in patients suspected of local tumor extension
  because CT and MRI scans are inaccurate in almost one-half of cases of high-grade (Grade 3) cancers that
  deeply invade bladder muscle or fat surrounding the bladder, or when cancer cells are found in the small blood
  and lymphatic vessels within the bladder muscle. With laparoscopic surgery, it is possible to remove selected
  lymph nodes and tissues to rule out the possibility that tumor extends outside the bladder. If tumor is found in