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Bladder Cancer
Most people do not consider bladder cancer a major health risk. However, in 1999 there will be an estimated 39,000 men and 15,000 women newly diagnosed with this disease. According to the American Cancer Society, it will be the cause of approximately 12,100 deaths. This year it will be the fourth leading site of cancer in men and the eighth leading site in women. The incidence of bladder cancer is almost twice a nigh in whites as in African-Americans, and usually strikes those in the mature years with a median age of 65 years at diagnosis. The most important risk factor for the development of bladder cancer is tobacco use; smokers have twice the risk as nonsmokers. Fortunately, the majority of bladder cancer is detected in an early, localized stage in which the tumor is confined to the surface of the bladder. This disease tends to be recurrent in nature and lifelong surveillance is necessary to prevent the disease from penetrating the muscular layers of the bladder, which then becomes life threatening. Unfortunately, those patients diagnosed with advanced disease have very poor five-year survival rates.
Obviously, the best way to approach any cancer is to prevent it from occurring. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine gives promising results regarding the prevention of bladder cancer. Over 48,000 patients with bladder cancer were included and the study demonstrated that a high fluid intake was associated with a significantly decreased risk of bladder cancer in men. Most surprisingly, the study demonstrated that a person drinking only one cup of water a day has twice the risk of developing bladder cancer as a person drinking six cups of water a day. The risk was also decreased by increasing fluid intake of any type, including water, milk, juice, soda and coffee. There was no increased risk of developing bladder cancer from caffeine use.
Another study has demonstrated that those patients with bladder cancer have a significant decrease in recurrence rate with the use of large doses of vitamin A. This was a well designed, randomized trial of 65 patients who received large doses of vitamin A and vitamin C along with vitamin E and B6. This chemoprophylaxis regimen decreased the five-year recurrence rate by 50 percent in those receiving the megavitamins. These two studies prove how very small preventative measures, such as increasing fluid intake and taking vitamins on a daily basis, may prevent a potentially devastating, life-threatening disease.
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