Facts on Bladder Cancer:
Harvard Health Publishing (Bladder Cancer: Men at Risk – Harvard Health Publications – Harvard Health)
Although there’s no guaranteed way to prevent bladder cancer, you can take steps to help reduce your risk. For instance:
After confirming that you have bladder cancer, your doctor may recommend additional tests to determine whether your cancer has spread to your lymph nodes or to other areas of your body.
Tests may include:
Your doctor uses these diagnostic tests listed above for information from these procedures to assign your cancer a stage.
The stages of bladder cancer are indicated by Roman numerals ranging from 0 to IV. The lowest stages indicate a cancer that’s confined to the inner layers of the bladder and that hasn’t grown to affect the muscular bladder wall. The highest stage — stage IV — indicates cancer that has spread to lymph nodes or organs in distant areas of the body, like a lot of other cancers are staged I through IV.
If cancer invades the muscles of the bladder, doctors will usually treat it with chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, followed by surgery to remove the bladder. However, a recent clinical trial found that adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy may allow certain patients to avoid surgery.
Bladder cancer treatment may include: Surgery, to remove the cancer cells. Chemotherapy in the bladder (intravesical chemotherapy), to treat cancers that are confined to the lining of the bladder but have a high risk of recurrence or progression to a higher stage.
Approaches to bladder cancer surgery might be used could include:
Chemotherapy drugs can be given:
Radiation therapy uses beams of powerful energy, such as X-rays and protons, to destroy the cancer cells. Radiation therapy for bladder cancer usually is delivered from a machine that moves around your body, directing the energy beams to precise points.
Radiation therapy is sometimes combined with chemotherapy to treat bladder cancer in certain situations, such as when surgery isn’t an option or isn’t desired at that time or ever depending on your stage of cancer.
Immunotherapy is a drug treatment that helps your immune system to fight cancer.
Immunotherapy can be given:
Targeted therapy drugs focus on specific weaknesses present within cancer cells. By targeting these weaknesses, targeted drug treatments can cause cancer cells to die. Your cancer cells may be tested to see if targeted therapy is likely to be effective.
Targeted therapy may be an option for treating advanced bladder cancer when other treatments haven’t helped.
In certain situations, people with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who don’t want to undergo surgery to remove the bladder may consider trying a combination of treatments instead. Known as trimodality therapy, this approach combines TURBT, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
First, your surgeon performs a TURBT procedure to remove as much of the cancer as possible from your bladder while preserving bladder function. After TURBT, you undergo a regimen of chemotherapy along with radiation therapy.
If, after trying trimodality therapy, not all of the cancer is gone or you have a recurrence of muscle-invasive cancer, your doctor may recommend a radical cystectomy.
Bladder cancer may recur, even after successful treatment. Because of this, people with bladder cancer need follow-up testing for years after successful treatment. What tests you’ll have and how often depends on your type of bladder cancer and how it was treated, among other factors.
In general, doctors recommend a test to examine the inside of your urethra and bladder (cystoscopy) every three to six months for the first few years after bladder cancer treatment. After a few years of surveillance without detecting cancer recurrence, you may need a cystoscopy exam only once a year. Your doctor may recommend other tests at regular intervals as well.
People with aggressive cancers may undergo more-frequent testing. Those with less aggressive cancers may undergo testing less often.
“Bladder cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer in the United States. In 2026, approximately 84,530 people are estimated to receive a diagnosis of bladder cancer, and some 17,870 people are expected to die from it, according to estimates by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Bladder cancer is most likely to affect white men. In fact, the incidence rate of bladder cancer is four times higher among men than among women. It is also about twice as high in white males compared with Black, Hispanic, or Asian/Pacific Islander men.”
American Association for Cancer Research (May is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month | AACR)
Bladder cancer is a common type of cancer that begins in the cells of the bladder. The bladder is a hollow muscular organ in your lower abdomen that stores urine.
Bladder cancer most often begins in the cells (urothelial cells) that line the inside of your bladder. Urothelial cells are also found in your kidneys and the tubes (ureters) that connect the kidneys to the bladder. Urothelial cancer can happen in the kidneys and ureters, too, but it’s much more common in the bladder.
Most bladder cancers are diagnosed at an early stage, when the cancer is highly treatable. But even early-stage bladder cancers can come back after successful treatment like many other cancers. For this reason, people with bladder cancer typically need follow-up tests for years after treatment to look for bladder cancer that recurs.
Bladder cancer begins when cells in the bladder develop changes (mutations) in their DNA. A cell’s DNA contains instructions that tell the cell what to do. The changes tell the cell to multiply rapidly and to go on living when healthy cells would die. The abnormal cells form a tumor that can invade and destroy normal body tissue. In time, the abnormal cells can break away and spread (metastasize) through the body.
Urinary Bladder Cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer in the United States. In 2024, approximately 83,190 people will receive a diagnosis of bladder cancer, and some 16,840 people are expected to die from it, according to estimates by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Bladder cancer is most likely to affect white men. In fact, the incidence rate of bladder cancer is four times higher among men than among women. It is also twice as high in white males as among Black, Hispanic or Asian/Pacific Islander men.
The NCI explains that there are three major types of bladder cancer. The name of each type of cancer indicates the kind of cells that become malignant.
Cancer in the lining of the bladder is called superficial bladder cancer. Cancer that has spread through the lining of the bladder and has invaded the muscle wall of the organ, or has spread to nearby organs and lymph nodes, is called invasive bladder cancer.
Approximately 78 percent of people diagnosed with bladder cancer survived five years or more after diagnosis between 2012 and 2019, according to federal estimates.
Different types of cells in your bladder can become cancerous. The type of bladder cell where cancer begins determines the type of bladder cancer. Doctors use this information to determine which treatments may work best for you.
Types of bladder cancer include:
Some bladder cancers include more than one type of cell.
Factors that may increase bladder cancer risk include:
“How many people have Huntington’s disease is a question that patients, families, and researchers ask every day. The condition is rare, but it carries life-changing consequences for everyone it touches. In 2025, estimates suggest that about 41,000 people in the United States live with Huntington’s disease, while more than 200,000 carry the genetic mutation that could eventually lead to symptoms.”
Legal United States (How Many People Have Huntington’s Disease? Full 2025 Breakdown)
A preliminary diagnosis of Huntington’s disease is based primarily on your answers to questions, a general physical exam, a review of your family medical history, and neurological and psychiatric examinations.
The neurologist will ask you questions and conduct relatively simple tests of your:
The neurologist may also perform standardized tests to check your:
You’ll likely be referred to a psychiatrist for an examination to look for a number of factors that could contribute to your diagnosis, including:
Your doctor may order brain-imaging tests for assessing the structure or function of the brain. The imaging technologies may include MRI or CT scans that show detailed images of the brain.
These images may reveal changes in the brain in areas affected by Huntington’s disease. These changes may not show up early in the course of the disease. These tests can also be used to rule out other conditions that may be causing symptoms.
If symptoms strongly suggest Huntington’s disease, your doctor may recommend a genetic test for the defective gene.
This test can confirm the diagnosis. It may also be valuable if there’s no known family history of Huntington’s disease or if no other family member’s diagnosis was confirmed with a genetic test. But the test won’t provide information that might help determinine a treatment plan.
Before having such a test, the genetic counselor will explain the benefits and drawbacks of learning test results. The genetic counselor can also answer questions about the inheritance patterns of Huntington’s disease.
A genetic test can be given if you have a family history of the disease but don’t have symptoms. This is called predictive testing. The test can’t tell you when the disease will begin or what symptoms will appear first.
Some people may have the test because they find not knowing to be more stressful. Others may want to take the test before having children.
Huntington’s disease is caused by an inherited defect in a single gene. Huntington’s disease is an autosomal dominant disorder, which means that a person needs only one copy of the defective gene to develop the disorder.
With the exception of genes on the sex chromosomes, a person inherits two copies of every gene — one copy from each parent. A parent with a defective gene could pass along the defective copy of the gene or the healthy copy. Each child in the family, therefore, has a 50 percent chance of inheriting the gene that causes the genetic disorder.
After the start of Huntington’s disease, a person’s functional abilities gradually worsen over time. The rate of disease progression and duration varies. The time from disease emergence to death is often about 10 to 30 years. Juvenile Huntington’s disease usually results in death within 10 years after symptoms develop.
The clinical depression associated with Huntington’s disease may increase the risk of suicide. Some research suggests that the greater risk of suicide occurs before a diagnosis is made and in the middle stages of the disease when a person has begun to lose independence.
Eventually, a person with Huntington’s disease requires help with all activities of daily living and care. Late in the disease, he or she will likely be confined to a bed and unable to speak. However, he or she is generally able to understand language and has an awareness of family and friends.
Common causes of death include:
People with a known family history of Huntington’s disease are understandably concerned about whether they may pass the Huntington gene on to their children. These people may consider genetic testing and family planning options.
If an at-risk parent is considering genetic testing, it can be helpful to meet with a genetic counselor. A genetic counselor will discuss the potential risks of a positive test result, which would indicate the parent will develop the disease. Also, couples will need to make additional choices about whether to have children or to consider alternatives, such as prenatal testing for the gene or in vitro fertilization with donor sperm or eggs.
Another option for couples is in vitro fertilization and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. In this process, eggs are removed from the ovaries and fertilized with the father’s sperm in a laboratory. The embryos are tested for presence of the Huntington gene, and only those testing negative for the Huntington gene are implanted in the mother’s uterus.
“Huntington’s disease causes nerve cells in the brain to decay over time. The disease affects a person’s movements, thinking ability and mental health. Huntington’s disease is rare. It’s often passed down through a changed gene from a parent. Huntington’s disease symptoms can develop at any time, but they often begin when people are in their 30s or 40s. If the disease develops before age 20, it’s called juvenile Huntington’s disease.”
MAYO CLINIC
Huntington’s disease is an inherited disease that causes the progressive breakdown (degeneration) of nerve cells in the brain. Huntington’s disease has a broad impact on a person’s functional abilities and usually results in movement, thinking (cognitive) and psychiatric disorders.
Most people with Huntington’s disease develop signs and symptoms in their 30s or 40s. But the disease may emerge earlier or later in life.
When the disease develops before age 20, the condition is called juvenile Huntington’s disease. An earlier emergence of the disease often results in a somewhat different set of symptoms and faster disease progression.
Medications are available to help manage the symptoms of Huntington’s disease, but treatments can’t prevent the physical, mental and behavioral decline associated with the condition.
Huntington’s disease usually causes movement, cognitive and psychiatric disorders with a wide spectrum of signs and symptoms. Which symptoms appear first varies greatly among affected people. During the course of the disease, some disorders appear to be more dominant or have a greater effect on functional ability.
The movement disorders associated with Huntington’s disease can include both involuntary movement problems and impairments in voluntary movements, such as:
Impairments in voluntary movements — rather than the involuntary movements — may have a greater impact on a person’s ability to work, perform daily activities, communicate and remain independent.
Cognitive impairments often associated with Huntington’s disease include:
The most common psychiatric disorder associated with Huntington’s disease is depression. This isn’t simply a reaction to receiving a diagnosis of Huntington’s disease. Instead, depression appears to occur because of injury to the brain and subsequent changes in brain function. Signs and symptoms may include:
Other common psychiatric disorders include:
In addition to the above symptoms, weight loss is common in people with Huntington’s disease, especially as the disease progresses.
The start and progression of Huntington’s disease in younger people may be slightly different from that in adults. Problems that often present themselves early in the course of the disease include:
