Introduction

Bladder cancer is the second most common urologic cancer accounting for approximately 52,000 cases per year. In their earliest stages, urologic cancers often either have no symptoms or produce effects similar to those of benign disease, such as bladder stones, an enlarged prostate or urinary tract infection.
That is why regular examination by a physician is important and why the following symptoms should be evaluated promptly in order to detect bladder cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. When treated and detected early, the five-year survival rate is 90 percent. Disease that has spread to adjacent organs has a five-year survival rate of 46 percent, and to distant organs, survival is only nine percent.