Urinary Tract Cancers |
Bladder Cancer Treatment01/12/2009 |
I had my bladder, prostate, and lymph nodes taken out due to stage 3 bladder cancer. After this is done, should I have chemo or radition. They say they got it all. What should the next steps be? Thank you.
Post operative radiation therapy in my mind needs exceptional circumstances and thus is not commonly used after the bladder has been removed. As the surgeon feels 'all the cancer has been removed' I doubt that post op radiation therapy is necessary.
Post operative chemotherapy is given if the stage and grade of the cancer are high enough that the risk of the cancer spreading is high. Such tumors have spread into the lymph nodes, invaded through the bladder wall, have invaded into the fat around the bladder or into the prostate, or invaded into the blood or lymphatic vessels.
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R Bruce Bracken, MD Professor of Surgery College of Medicine University of Cincinnati |