Radiation Therapy for Bladder Cancer

Treating Bladder Cancer

Treatment options are based on your type cancer, age and overall health. Bladder cancer, if caught early, can often be cured. The main treatments include:

• Surgery by a surgical oncologist or urologist to remove the cancer in the bladder is usually the first step. If a tumor is determined to be invasive, the next step may be removal of part or all of the bladder. Your surgeon may able to replace the bladder to help you maintain normal urinary function.
• Radiation therapy is where a radiation oncologist uses high-energy X-rays to destroy the tumor.
• Chemotherapy is where a medical oncologist uses drugs to eliminate the cancer.
• Biologic therapy (also called immunotherapy) is where doctors use a drug to stimulate your immune system to fight the cancer.

In the past, complete removal of the bladder was the only way to treat bladder cancer. With advances in radiation therapy and chemotherapy, doctors are sometimes able to treat the cancer while preserving the bladder. This allows many patients to preserve urinary function and allows many men to preserve erectile function. Surgery by a surgical oncologist or urologist to remove the cancer or possibly part or all of the bladder.