In the media:
This is the only cancer where survival rates are decreasing in Australia It’s time to talk about it. Credit: Cassandra Green | Body and Soul | April 29, 2021
Melissa Le Mesurier thought she just had a bad UTI. She couldn’t have been more shocked to find out it was cancer. Four years ago, Melissa Le Mesurier went to the doctor for what she thought was a persistent UTI. Little did she know she was about to be diagnosed with bladder cancer, the only cancer where survival rates are decreasing in Australia. Her symptoms were minimal. She was having trouble passing urine but feeling the urge to go. It gradually got worse and after not being able to pass urine for 12 hours on holiday, she knew it was time to see a specialist. Her urologist, Professor Shomik Sengupta performed a cystoscopy (visualisation of the bladder via a camera) and a tumour was found. Just a few weeks later she was back in to get it removed (thankfully it hadn’t invaded the muscle wall or metastasised elsewhere in the body). “The good news was that with early detection and treatment, this type of cancer has a five year survival rate of 95%. It’s not so good news for those diagnosed with a bladder cancer that has spread into the bladder wall (69% survival rate) or beyond the bladder cancer wall (33%). So, all in all, I considered myself lucky,” she says. However, awareness and diagnosis isn’t always that easy. “If your doctor suspects you have bladder cancer, they will examine you and arrange tests,” says her urologist Professor Sengupta.
“The tests you have will depend on your specific situation and may include: general tests (usually blood and urine) to check your overall health and body function, tests to find cancer (usually scans and internal inspection of the bladder using a fibreoptic instrument known as a cystoscope), and further tests (usually additional scans) to see if the cancer has spread (metastasised). Some tests may be repeated later to see how the treatment is working.” As the diagnosis process is somewhat invasive, there is no national testing scheme, the same way they detect bowel and breast cancer. This means that patients must self-report symptoms, which is a much less reliable form of detection. Without more awareness for this type of cancer and the symptoms, diagnosis can be delayed, and survival chances drop significantly. So what are the symptoms? “The most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine (haematuria). This usually occurs suddenly and is generally not painful. Other less common symptoms include: a burning sensation when passing urine, pain when urinating, needing to pass urine often, problems emptying the bladder, back pain or lower abdominal pain,” Professor Sengupta says. Melissa, however, didn’t have the full gamut of symptoms.
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34 A LITTLE BELOW THE BELT
