Bladder Cancer: November 2006 Archives

A child is more likely to develop bladder cancer later in life if he/she is exposed to second-hand smoke or smokes, say European researchers. A child who starts smoking before the age of 15 is three times as likely to suffer from bladder cancer later in life than a child who doesn't smoke.

You can read about this study in the International Journal of Cancer.

The researchers found that adults who do not smoke, but are exposed to someone else's smoke at home, have no raised risk of bladder cancer. Children, on the other hand, who are exposed to second hand smoke in the home have a 40% higher risk, compared to children who are not exposed to passive smoking in the home.

In the UK bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer among men.

by Kristina Collins, The Cancer Blog

At home screening may reduce deaths from bladder cancer in men over fifty years of age. Bladder cancer is diagnosed in as many as 60,000 individuals annually in the United States and is much more common in the elderly.

Cancer of the bladder has a high cure rate if detected early enough, however, the cure rate gets much lower if the cancer spreads and metastasizes to other parts of the body. One way to diagnose the disease is to detect microscopic amounts of blood in the urine.