Bladder cancer can sometimes be found early. Finding it early improves your chances that it can be treated successfully.

Screening

Screening tests or exams are used to look for a disease in people who have not had that disease before and do not have any symptoms of that disease. A routine urinalysis might find blood in the urine, which is often the first sign of bladder cancer. But most studies of screening by using routine urinalysis to look for blood haven’t found more bladder cancers, although one study found that screening might detect the cancer at an earlier stage. There has been no major study of screening published in that last 10 years. Screening the general public for bladder cancer is not recommended by any professional organization. Once, however, a person is diagnosed with bladder cancer, then the doctor will test them periodically to check for recurrence of the cancer.

Some doctors recommend bladder cancer screening for people at very high risk. Risk factors that would justify screening include a previous diagnosis of bladder cancer or certain birth defects of the bladder. People with high work-related exposure to certain chemicals might also be screened. This has been done in the past, usually by a combination of microscopic examination of urine for cancer cells (urine cytology) and viewing the bladder through a thin lighted tube (cystoscopy).

Blood in the urine is often the first sign of bladder cancer. Although large amounts of blood are readily visible, small amounts can be found by examining the urine under a microscope or by a simple chemical test that is available in any doctor’s office. Blood in the urine is usually caused by benign conditions such as infections. But a small percentage of people with blood in their urine have bladder cancer.

Another screening test for people suspected of bladder cancer is to examine the urine for cancer cells. This is not very reliable though. A new test for a substance in the urine called NMP22 has been successful in about 50% of people at high risk for bladder cancer. Unfortunately this means that the cancers in other half of the people were missed. Another promising test looks for telomerase in the urine. Telomerase is an enzyme that is found often in cancer cells. Still, experts feel that more studies need to be done before any test becomes useful for widespread screening for bladder cancer.

If you don't have any known risk factors, prompt attention to bladder symptoms is the best advice for finding bladder cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. Last Revised: 08/08/2006