Female bladder cancer

Bladder cancer refers to a malignant tumor that occurs on the bladder mucosa. It is the most common malignant tumor of the genitourinary system and one of the top ten most common tumors in the body. It ranks first in the incidence of genitourinary tumors in my country, and second in Western countries after prostate cancer. In 2012, the prevalence of bladder cancer in the national cancer registration areas was 6.61/100,000, ranking 9th among the prevalence of malignant tumors. Bladder cancer can occur at any age, even in children. Its prevalence increases with age, and the most common age is 50 to 70 years old. The incidence of bladder cancer in men is 3 to 4 times that in women.

The causes of bladder cancer are complex, with both essential genetic factors and external environmental factors. The relatively clear risk factors for the disease are smoking and occupational exposure to aromatic amines. Smoking is currently the most undoubted risk factor for bladder cancer. 30% to 50% of bladder cancers are caused by smoking. Smoking can increase the risk of bladder cancer by 2 to 6 times. As the smoking time increases, the incidence of bladder cancer also increases significantly. Another key source of disease risk is associated with a series of positions or job contacts. It has been confirmed that aniline, dihydroxybiphenyl, 2-naphthylamine and 1-naphthylamine are all carcinogens of bladder cancer. People who are exposed to these compounds for a long time have a higher risk of bladder cancer. Bladder cancer patients caused by occupational factors account for about 25% of bladder cancer patients. Jobs related to bladder cancer include industries such as metallic aluminum, medium-temperature coal tar, asphalt, dyes, vulcanized rubber, and coal vaporization.

Clinical symptoms of bladder cancer

About 90% of bladder cancer patients have hematuria as their initial clinical symptom, which is usually painless, intermittent, and visible hematuria, and sometimes microscopic hematuria. Hematuria may occur only once or last from 1 day to several days and may resolve or stop on its own. Sometimes, the patient takes medicine and the hematuria stops by itself, which often gives the patient the illusion of "recovery". Some patients may have recurring hematuria after various intervals. The color of hematuria varies from light red to dark red, often dark red. Some patients describe it as being like samples of meat washing water or tea leaves. The duration of bleeding and hematuria is not necessarily proportional to the malignant level, size, scope and number of the tumor.

Sometimes when visible hematuria occurs, the tumor is already very large or in the terminal stage; sometimes a small tumor can cause a lot of hematuria. Some patients are found to have tumors in their bladders through B-ultrasound examinations during health checks. 10% of bladder cancer patients may first experience bladder irritation symptoms, mainly manifested as frequent urination, urgency, inability to hold urine, urinary pain and difficulty urinating, but the patients have no obvious gross hematuria. This is mostly due to tumor necrosis, ulceration, large or numerous tumors in the bladder, or diffuse infiltration of the bladder wall by the bladder tumor, which reduces the bladder capacity or causes a high incidence of infection. Tumors in the trigone of the bladder and the neck of the bladder can block the entrance and exit of the bladder, causing difficulty in urination.