May is Bladder Cancer awareness month. Online platform brings together essential information about this oncological disease – News

This initiative allows you to clarify some doubts about bladder cancer through explanatory videos, starring doctors specializing in the treatment of this disease. Rui Amorim (Urologist) and Joana Marinho (Oncologist) are some of the invited experts, who address “What is Bladder Cancer and Risk Factors” and “The Role of Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Bladder Cancer”, respectively. The epidemiology of Bladder Cancer, signs and symptoms and risk factors are the areas that deserve to be highlighted in this Bladder Cancer without Reticence platform.

In Portugal, in 2020 there were 2068 new cases of bladder cancer. This cancer affects the bladder tissues, causing the cells that make up the bladder to begin to grow uncontrollably. Despite being more common in males, there is some prevalence in females. Data from Globocan (2020) indicate that, in the same year, the incidence went from 1903 male patients to 705 new female cases. Bladder cancer is the most common type of urothelial carcinoma, with the average age at diagnosis being around 70 years.

It is important not to ignore the symptoms, as they can be confused with urinary tract infections (cystitis), bladder stones, overactive bladder or an enlarged prostate. The manifestations of bladder cancer include the need to urinate frequently, pain or burning when urinating, reduced or intermittent urinary flow, a feeling of incomplete emptying and blood in the urine.

Although it is not possible to avoid this pathology, there are several risk factors that contribute to bladder cancer, namely smoking, which is the main risk factor associated with bladder cancer. As well as exposure to industrial chemicals and the human papilloma virus (HPV).

For Filipe Ribeiro, Medical Director of Astellas Pharma, the entity that launched the new platform, “the early assessment of the signs and symptoms of Bladder Cancer, like other pathologies, will contribute to a timely diagnosis and adequate medical monitoring”.

The Bladder Cancer without Reticence platform has scientific support from the Oncology Support Care Research Association (AICSO) and the Portuguese Genito-Urinary Group.

Article opening image courtesy of Freepik.