The following things affect a person’s chances of developing bladder cancer.

Age

The risk of developing bladder cancer increases with age. Two thirds of all cases occur in people over 70.

Gender

Bladder cancer affects more men than women.

Smoking

Smoking increases the risk of bladder cancer.

Chemicals

Certain chemicals cause bladder cancer. These have been used in the past in the painting and decorating, leather-working, dyeing, papermaking, dry cleaning, rubber and plastic, and mechanics industries. Even though these chemicals have been banned in the UK for decades, they still cause new cases of bladder cancer today because of the long time the cancer takes to develop.

Previous bladder cancer

Having had bladder cancer in the past increases the risk of developing it again.

Bladder stones and repeated infections

Repeated or chronic bladder infections, or bladder stones, slightly increase the risk of developing bladder cancer.

You can find out more about what ‘cancer risk’ means in the ‘Understanding ‘risk’‘ section of this website.

Signs and symptoms

Symptoms of bladder cancer include:

—      blood in the urine

—      experiencing pain when passing urine

—      the need to pass urine very often or very urgently.

None of these symptoms are necessarily due to bladder cancer because infections can also cause these signs. However, anyone noticing these signs should report them to a doctor.

Screening

There is currently no reliable screening test available for bladder cancer.

However, Cancer Research UK is supporting research to develop a urine test based on a protein called MCM5.

Detection

A doctor may carry out the following if he or she doctor thinks you might have bladder cancer:

—      Medical history, urine sample and internal examination
Initially, a doctor will carry out an examination and a urine test. The doctor will also ask about any similar problems in the past, and whether there might have been exposure to certain chemicals at work. They may also want to carry out an internal examination of the rectum (back passage) and, in the case of women, of the vagina. If the doctor detects anything abnormal, a specialist may carry out further tests.

—      Cystoscopy
The specialist may want to examine the inside of the bladder. The procedure is called cystoscopy, and means inserting a tube into the bladder under local or general anaesthetic. The tube has optic fibres inside it that allow the doctor to view the inside of the bladder. The doctor may remove any unusual growth, or take biopsies from the bladder lining to aid diagnosis.

—      Scans
If cancer is present, the specialist will want to find out if it has spread to other parts of the body, and may want to carry out some scans. These might include:

—      a CT scan or MRI scan

—      a bone scan or liver ultrasound scan

—      an X-ray of the bladder (or ‘intravenous urogram’).

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