Blood in the urine, the main symptom of bladder cancer

Written by: Dr. Carlos Rioja Sanz

Published: 31/08/2015

Edited by: Top Doctors^®

Bladder cancer is a malignant type of cancer that originates in the bladder and mainly affects men. There are different types of bladder cancer according to the degree of malignancy of the cells making up the tumor.

The incidence of bladder cancer is increasing in Western countries. In Spain, 12,000 new cases are diagnosed each year according to the Spanish Association of Urology. Bladder tumors account for 10% of tumors that affect humans.

80% of cases of bladder cancer, generally treated in urology , are confined to the mucosa and submucosa. While the other 20% of patients have muscle layer invasion or involvement of the pelvic lymph nodes.

Most bladder tumors, about 90% are transitional cell carcinomas. The rest are squamous cell carcinomas or adenocarcinomas.

The main symptom of bladder cancer is hematuria, namely the issue of blood in the urine.

Bladder Cancer: Causes

The main cause of occurrence of bladder carcinoma is the snuff and exposure to certain carcinogenic chemicals. The risk of bladder cancer also significantly increases with age.

The snuff the most important risk factor being the prognosis of smokers worse than other factors such as stage, grade, size and multifocality of the tumor.

Chemicals that can induce the occurrence of this cancer are:

Aromatic amines: are the first known carcinogens. Occupational risk groups are workers in the following industries: printing, metal smelting, aluminum workers, paint industries.
Dyes aniline derivatives
Some polycyclic hydrocarbons.
Halogenated and hydroxylated derivatives sulfonated.
Industrial derivatives of tryptophan.