Bladder cancer recovery

Your recovery depends on the type of tumour you have and how far the cancer has spread.

Non-invasive bladder cancer

If your bladder cancer is confined to the pelvis, you have roughly a 90 per cent chance of surviving five years with a non-aggressive (low grade) superficial cancer (1).

If you have been treated for superficial bladder cancer, life should return to normal quite quickly. You will, however, need to have regular cystoscopy examinations to check that the cancer has not returned.

Transurethral resection of bladder cancer tumour (TURBT) operation

Non-invasive bladder cancer can be treated with a TURBT operation.

You will either have a general or spinal anaesthetic (epidural), depending on your own preferences and/ or your general health.

To perform the TURBT operation, the surgeon uses a special tool called a resectoscope - a long thin tube with a tiny camera and light source at one end - to remove the cancer from the bladder. The surgeon will pass the thin tube of the resectoscope down the urethra into the bladder. The surgeon and his team will be able to see what is happening inside the bladder by watching a monitor where the images from the camera are displayed. Surgical instruments are passed down the resectoscope into the bladder and the abnormal area is then resected (removed).

The abnormal tissue will be sent off to the laboratory to test for cancer.

Sometimes a TURBT is followed by introducing types of chemotherapy or BCG (like the TB vaccine) directly into the bladder through a catheter, which reduces the frequency of further cancers forming. When the operation is finished, the surgeon will normally insert a catheter into your bladder. The catheter has two functions: it will allow you to pass urine more easily; and allow the nurse to wash out your bladder with saline to prevent blood clots forming.

Recovery from TURBT operation

The catheter will usually be removed after one to two days and you should be able to return home once you have demonstrated that you can pass urine.

In some cases, your consultant may want you to stay in hospital a bit longer for observation.

As you will have been under sedation/ general or spinal aesthetic you will not be able to leave hospital on your own, drive or use public transport. You will have to have someone pick you up, or arrange transport at the hospital.

You should drink lots of fluids, as this will help you pass urine and reduce the risk of blood clots forming. It is normal to get blood in your urine from time to time after the operation, as your bladder will still be healing. If your bladder gets full and painful, go to see your GP. In some cases you may need to return to hospital to have blood clots removed using a catheter.

You should be able to go back to work after about two weeks.

You may have to return to the hospital to find out what the laboratory found in the tissue removed come back to the clinic for results from the examination of the tissue that your surgeon removed a few days later. Talk to your consultant if you need more information.

Invasive bladder cancer

The survival rate for invasive bladder cancer falls to 10 per cent, if it has spread into other pelvic organs/lymph glands (aggressive or high-grade invasive cancer) (1).

If you have had your bladder removed (cystectomy) after invasive bladder cancer, it can take up to three months (2) to recover.

You will also need to adjust to the method in which your urine is removed from your body - which may take time (see Q and A).

Chemotherapy drugs injected into a vein are also sometimes used before a cystectomy to try to shrink down the tumours prior to the main treatment. Chemotherapy is used in this way before radiotherapy treatment as well.

If the disease has spread outside the pelvis so that it cannot be cured, chemotherapy into a vein is also an option to try to shrink the secondary tumours and hold the disease for a while.

Infolinks

References:

  1. Alastair Thomson (consultant oncologist Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust) | Bladder cancer | Email communication (May 2009)
  2. Cancer Backup | Treatment for invasive bladder cancer | Accessed Feb 2008 | Last update Mar 2009

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