Traditionally, the genitourinary tract includes the bladder, the kidneys, the ureters, the urethra, as well as specifically the testicles and the prostate in men. The prostate is an accessory male sex gland required for reproduction.
Various types of genitourinary cancers are named as per their occurrence in a specific genitourinary region.
A brief description of major genitourinary cancer types are mentioned below:
Prostate cancer
- This male gland is located in the pelvis underneath the urinary bladder and supports the reproductive function. In prostate cancer, the prostate cells that produce the components of male semen ejaculation become cancerous.
- A man’s risk for developing Prostate cancer begins to increase at about age 50 with highly variable behavior, also in some cases, no treatment is required.
- In the early diagnosis of prostate cancer, before it has spread (metastasized), various potentially curative treatments can be applied either by removing the prostate surgically or adopting various radiotherapy procedures.
- Due to its highly variable behavior, most of the patients are carefully assessed by a multidisciplinary team of urologists, pathologists, radiation and medical oncologists to better know the aggressiveness of the cancer and an ideal treatment option.
- In about one third clinical cases of newly diagnosed prostate cancer not yet spread (metastasized), a reasonable treatment option is simply watching the disease carefully.
Kidney Cancer
- Usually, people are born with one pair of kidneys, one on the right side, and another one on the left side of the body. The kidneys help to remove waste products from the body, as well as control blood formation and fluid balances in the body.
- Most kidney cancers develop within the cells that line the filtration apparatus to produce urine. The incidence of causing kidney cancer increases with age after 50.
- Its behavior is much more predictable than prostate cancer. Cancer patients in the last few years of life according to their age or other health conditions, a kidney cancer should be removed completely. Also, the part of the kidney containing cancer should be removed unless cancer has metastasized.
Testicular cancer
A pair of testicles in men has two primary functions i.e. producing sperms to permit reproduction, and the other is to produce the male hormone. All males who suffer from testicular cancer have a congenital abnormality on their 12th chromosome. In testicular cancer, the cells that produce sperms are affected by cancer. It mostly occurs after the age of 65. Testicular cancer has five different subtypes and most of them are treated surgically by removing the impacted testicle.
Additionally, chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments are used to cure advanced cases that have spread in the body. The highest success rates can be achieved with a multidisciplinary treatment approach.
Bladder or Urothelial Cancer
Urothelial cells are located in the lining of tubes that collects urine prepared by the kidney and drain the urine into the bladder and bladder lining itself.
Sometimes, DNA of Urothelial cells are damaged by some waste chemicals in the urine can produce cancer cells anywhere from the bladder to the kidneys.
Most of the cases, cancers are found to occur in the bladder, where urothelial cells lining are having the longest contact with the urine. Mostly bladder cancers are found early before they penetrate deeply into other tissues or metastasize. Bladder cancers may result in bleeding in the urine.
A superficial bladder cancer can be frequently treated by just “scraping it off” the bladder surface. But it may usually recur, therefore continued procedures to diagnose the lining of the bladder to find any sign of recurrences should be done.
If cancer invades into the bladder wall, then mostly the entire bladder is removed surgically along with chemotherapy. In case, cancer can’t be cured with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy is considered to control the disease.
After completion of treatment, a doctor may schedule follow-up visits to find out any changes in your medical condition. During your visit, a doctor will use various diagnostic tests to monitor for any signs of cancer recurrence. Initially, all these appointments may occur more often and then less frequent later on. You should get advice from your specialist doctor for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
For more information related to various genitourinary cancers, visit renowned and trusted Chandigarh Cancer and Diagnostic Center (CCDC) for an expert consultation.