Introduction

The bladder is a muscular bag that sits in the middle of the pelvis at the lowest point in your abdomen, just behind the pubic bone.

The bladder wall is made up of three main layers: an inside mucous membrane (mucosa), a layer of muscle, and an outer layer called the peritoneum.

More than 10,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer in the UK each year. It’s the fourth most common cancer in men, and the tenth most common cancer in women. Bladder cancer is rare in people under 40; the average age at diagnosis is 65. By the time of diagnosis, about 85% of bladder cancers are still limited to the bladder. The rest will have also spread to the lymph nodes (glands).

Bladder cancer always starts in the mucosa and for a while only grows towards the inside of the bladder. If it is detected at this stage, it can be treated without opening up the bladder.

In the next stage, the cancer spreads outwards into the muscular layer of the bladder. It gets bigger on the inner surface of the bladder and spreads sideways at the same time.

The cancer then grows right through the wall of the bladder and into the peritoneum or other tissues around the bladder.

While the cancer is confined to the mucosa, it’s very unlikely to spread to the lymph nodes (small bean-sized organs of the immune system). But by the time it’s reached the muscle of the bladder wall, about 13% of cancers will also have spread to the lymph nodes as well. Once the cancer has grown through the outer wall and into the surrounding tissue, in almost 90% of cases it will also have spread to the lymph nodes.

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Continue to the next section “Symptoms”

Last updated on 03 February

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