Is chemotherapy needed after complete bladder cancer resection?

Bladder cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the urinary system and also a common malignant tumor in the whole body. Bladder cancer can occur at any age, from the elderly to young children. According to epidemiological studies, the occurrence of bladder cancer is related to smoking and exposure to chemicals. Therefore, in addition to some people's occupations such as the rubber industry and coal tar industry, smoking will also increase the incidence of bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is similar to other malignant tumors. If the disease is not well controlled in the early stages, untimely or inappropriate treatment will cause delays in the disease, which will further aggravate the condition. Once bladder cancer enters the late stage, cancer cells will metastasize. A common metastasis is bladder cancer infiltrating the surrounding area and spreading cancer cells to the pelvic cavity. Common distant metastases are metastases to distant organs such as the liver, lungs, and bones. In this process, cancer cells enter the lymph nodes to proliferate, and then transfer to distant organs of the body along the lymph fluid. Then they set up camp in these organs to form new cancer foci, which causes new symptoms and brings discomfort to the human body.

For the treatment of bladder cancer, surgery plus chemotherapy is now commonly used in clinical practice. Some people may wonder why chemotherapy is necessary after surgery? In fact, it is because during the treatment process, surgery can only remove the cancer foci that we can see with the naked eye. Although we can remove the entire foci, the vitality of cancer cells is very strong and they proliferate actively, and they can wander around the peripheral organs. These situations can only be checked under a microscope, which puts too much workload on medical workers and will bring unnecessary troubles to the clinic. Therefore, in the clinical treatment plan, chemotherapy will be added to the treatment plan after surgery. Chemotherapy can further kill the lesions and cancer cells that were not cleared by the surgery, which can significantly reduce the recurrence rate of cancer after bladder cancer surgery.

After bladder cancer surgery, you should follow the doctor's advice and actively cooperate with the treatment plan given by the clinical teacher. Don't give up easily during chemotherapy. This will not only fail to achieve the desired effect of the early treatment, but also delay the disease. The second is to reduce occupational exposure and avoid contact with chemicals as much as possible. Smoking patients should quit smoking immediately to avoid worsening the condition. In our daily life, we should have a full body check-up once a year, so that we can detect the disease in time and treat it early, thereby improving the cure rate.