Yasmina Kattou / Photo credits: SMOLAW11 / YAY / UNIVERSAL IMAGES GR / UIG / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY VIA AFP
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11:04 a.m., May 8, 2024
Every year, between 13,000 and 20,000 new people are affected by bladder cancer. For women, it is even more complicated to establish a diagnosis, because the symptoms resemble simple urinary infections.
The month of May is that of bladder cancer awareness (at the initiative of the French Urology Association). Each year, between 13,000 and 20,000 new cases are detected, 5,000 patients die. However, if treated early enough, the survival rate is 80 to 85%! But for this, we must be able to detect the tumor… However, there is no reliable diagnostic test.
A delay in diagnosis in women
Today, diagnostic tests to detect bladder cancer are not precise enough to be used on a large scale. So to detect this cancer, doctors focus on the symptoms that should alert you. “The main symptom is the appearance of blood in the urine,” explains Benjamin Pradère, specialized in bladder cancer and member of the French Association of Urology. “But there are plenty of other small symptoms, including the urge to urinate and repeated infections.”
Problem is, many women experience these symptoms, which can lead to a delay in diagnosis. “Bladder cancers in women are more serious than in men. Why? Because all the symptoms of bladder cancer are the classic symptoms of a urinary tract infection and we will treat these patients as infections classic urinary “, explains the doctor. “And ultimately, these are sometimes the first symptoms of bladder cancer.”
Benjamin Pradère therefore calls on general practitioners to redirect patients to urologists in the presence of these symptoms. Even more so if they smoke, tobacco being the primary risk factor for bladder cancer.