With over 25 thousand new cases diagnosed in 2020 in Italy, bladder cancer is the fifth most frequent form of cancer in our country, and its numbers are growing. Although it is mainly men who get sick, it is women who risk their lives the most because in women the diagnosis is too often late. To draw attention to this still little known and underestimated disease, in the month of May, all over the world, patients, families, friends and medical staff mobilize for an awareness campaign that aims to promote awareness of the symptoms of bladder cancer, improve early diagnosis and stimulate greater investment in research.
Cases on the rise especially among women
The risk of developing the disease is much higher in men (in 2020 in Italy 20,500 cases were recorded among men and 5,000 among women), but while the number of new male diagnoses is decreasing, the female ones are increasing. An increase that, as happens in lung cancer, largely explained by the increasing number of smokers: in fact, tobacco is responsible for about half of all urinary tract cancers. Five years after diagnosis, 80% of patients live on average in our country and 86% at 10 years: percentages higher than the European average, but which could be even better if the disease could be identified more often in a timely manner. when treatments are less invasive and more effective, there is a greater chance of recovery.
Early diagnosis, the signs not to be overlooked
This is why it is important to recognize the symptoms and not neglect them, but to talk to your doctor who, if he deems it necessary, will prescribe the necessary investigations – underlines Giuseppe Procopio, head of the genitourinary medical oncology of the IRCCS National Cancer Institute of Milan -. The main wake-up call blood in the urine (or hematuria). Other signs, although rarer and more common to other disorders, may be the need to urinate more frequently, recurrent infections, urgency, pain or difficulty in urinating. They are also not serious indications, which especially women tend to underestimate because they more frequently suffer from cystitis or blood loss. No less important to know the causes of this neoplasm, so as to do everything possible not to get sick. Tobacco is once again responsible for bladder cancer, to which two thirds of the overall risk in males and one third in women are attributed, but the danger is reduced year after year when you stop. Furthermore, I note that a considerable danger derives from occupational exposure to chemicals used in some industries (textiles, rubber, leather, aluminum) and in water purification.
The Covid emergency is not an obstacle
In this time of emergency and isolation due to the coronavirus outbreak, awareness month is more important than ever and we want to provide patients and caregivers around the world with the support and information they need so they don’t feel alone. and lost in the face of disease, which is precisely during the emergency risks not being diagnosed early, or not to receive the best care in a timely manner – he stresses Edoardo Fiorini, president of the PaLiNUro association, born at the National Cancer Institute of Milan in 2014 and made up of former patients, family members, volunteers and the medical community, with the main objective of concretely helping those who are faced with cancer today -. It is essential that, despite delays and inconveniences due to Covid-19, the sick continue to receive, promptly, the best care for their case. Without wasting precious time and without giving up any consultations or trips for therapies just because the virus has made it difficult (not impossible) to travel. Organized worldwide by the World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition, the awareness-raising initiative makes useful information and support tools available to everyone on a dedicated website.
May 20, 2021 (change May 20, 2021 | 11:19)
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