Basic Anatomy and Other Terms for Bladder Cancer

 

 

🔶  Acute: it is usually abrupt or a sudden onset or start of a condition or disease. Often there is a lot of pain. It also usually will mean that the illness will be of short duration. 

 

🔶  Abdomen / Abdominal Cavity: The part of the body that contains the pancreas, stomach, intestines, liver, gallbladder, and other organs. When the bladder is full of urine, it will extend into the abdominal cavity. However, the bladder is located in the region of the pelvis. 

 

🔶 Anesthesia / General Anesthesia / Local Anesthesia / Regional Anesthesia: this means that you can't feel pain. When used in the medical world, it's usually the pain medication that is given before procedures and surgery. General anesthesia is when the patient is unconscious and feels nothing. The pain medications are given by gas (breathing it) or by IV (intra venous or in your vein). Local anesthesia is when the patient is wide away during surgery. Medicine is injected to numb a small area. regional anesthesia is when the patient is awake, but parts of the body are asleep. For instance, this would be the numbing medicine used on your urethra, when you are getting a cystoscopy, or scope that looks in the bladder. 

 

🔶  Bladder / Urinary Bladder: A hollow, expandable organ in the pelvic region with flexible, muscular walls. It stores urine before it is excreted, or let out of the body.

 

🔶  BC / Bladder Cancer: Cancer that forms in the bladder. There are different kinds, different stages, and different grades. Look below for definition and information about these things.

  

🔶 Cancer: A term for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control. Cancer cells can invade nearby tissues and can spread through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to other parts of the body. You can only be certain a mass or tumor is cancer, by sending a sample of it to pathology. 

 

🔶 Carcinogen: any substance that causes cancer. 

 

🔶 Chronic: a medical condition that has been lasting a long time. Usually that means it's lasting 3 months or longer.

 

🔶 Clinical Trial: A research study that tests how well new medical treatments or other interventions work in people. Each study is designed to test new methods of screening, prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of a disease. 

 

🔶 Fallopian Tubes: Part of the female reproductive tract. The long slender tubes through which eggs pass from the ovaries to the uterus. Many times when the bladder is removed, these are taken out as well.

 

🔶 Kidneys: a pair of organs in the abdominal cavity that excrete, or expel urine as waste. They are the beginning of the urinary system. 

  

🔶 Lymph Node / Lymph / Lymphatic System / Lymph Gland / Lymph System: A small bean-shaped structure that is part of the body's immune system. Lymph nodes filter substances that travel through the lymphatic fluid, and they contain lymphocytes (white blood cells) that help the body fight infection and disease. There are hundreds of lymph nodes found throughout the body. They are connected to one another by lymph vessels. Clusters of lymph nodes are found in the neck, axilla (underarm), chest, abdomen, and groin. For example, there are about 20-40 lymph nodes in the axilla. The lymphatic system is the tissues and organs that produce, store, and carry white blood cells that fight infections and other diseases. This system includes the bone marrow, spleen, thymus, lymph nodes, and lymphatic vessels (a network of thin tubes that carry lymph and white blood cells). Lymphatic vessels branch, like blood vessels, into all the tissues of the body. Also called lymph system. When aggressive and large cancers are taken out, usually nearby lymph nodes are taken out as well, and they are checked to see if cancer has spread to them. When the bladder has to be removed because of bladder cancer, some lymph nodes are taken and sent to pathology.

 

🔶 Ovaries: The pair of female reproductive glands in which the ova, or eggs, are formed. The Ovaries are located in the pelvis, one on each side of the uterus.

 

🔶 Pelvis / Bony Pelvis / Pelvic Girdle / Pelvic Cavity: The pelvis or bony pelvis or pelvic girdle is a basin-shaped complex of bones that connects the trunk and the legs and supports and balances the trunk. The space between these bones is called the pelvic cavity. The pelvic cavity is a funnel-shaped space surrounded by pelvic bones and it contains organs, such as the urinary bladder, intestines, and rectum (8 inch chamber that connects the colon to the anus). In females, it also contains the vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. In males, it also contains the prostate and seminal vesicles.. The pelvic cavity and the abdominal cavity together form the larger abdominopelvic cavity.

 

🔶 Penis: the male genital organ. It consists mostly of erectile tissue, that allows for elimination of urine, and the transfer of sperm during sex, both through the urethra. The urethra is the hole at the end of the penis. Please see picture above.

 

🔶 Prostate: a glad surrounding the neck of the bladder in males. It releases prostatic fluid, which is part of the fluid in the semen. It's released during ejaculation of the semen, during sex. 

  

🔶 Side Effects: Problems that occur when treatment affects healthy cells. Common side effects of bladder cancer treatment (depending on the treatment) are fatigue, bleeding, hematuria (blood in urine), urinary urgency, urinary frequency, bladder spams, nausea, vomiting, decreased blood cell counts, hair loss, incontinence, inflammation, mouth sores, etc. There is a section below that talks about all of these and many more.

 

🔶 Trigone of Bladder / Vesical Trigone / Trigone: The smooth, triangular area  inside the bladder where the ureters and urethra connect to the interior of the bladder. It is sensitive to expansion and signals the brain of the need to empty.

 

🔶 Ureter: the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. You have two of these, one for each kidney. They attach on the bottom of the kidneys and the top of the bladder.

 

🔶 Urethra: this is the tube that attaches to the bottom of the bladder. It takes the urine from the bladder and out of your body. This is the hole that you will see when you look at a penis, or when you spread the labia of a woman. This is where catheters go in to access the bladder. This is also where the cystoscope will go in to access the bladder with a camera.

 

🔶 Urinary Tract: the body's drainage system for removing urine. Each pare of the urinary tract must work together in the correct order. The main organs of the urinary tract include the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.

 

🔶 Urine: liquid waste produced by the kidneys. It contains water, salt, urea, and other waste products removed from the blood. Usually it is yellowish in color. Once produced in the kidneys, it travels through the ureters, where it is stored in the bladder and then excreted, or let out of the body, through the urethra.

 

🔶 Urothelium / Urothelial (yoo-roh-THEE-lee-um): the lining of the urinary tract is called the urothelium. There are urothelial cells that make up the urothelium. So when you see the terms urothelial carcinoma (cancer tumor) put together, it means that the cancer is in the lining of the urinary system - the urothelium. The lining of the urinary tract includes the renal pelvis (the internal parts of the kidney, see pictures above), ureters, bladder, and urethra. Unfortunately, because bladder cancers include the urothelial layer, you are at a potential risk of developing cancer in the other areas of the urinary system that has an endothelial lining. Meaning the cancer can pop up in the kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra at a later time. That is why a CT (cat scan) needs to be done at least yearly to rule out the cancer growing in another area of your urinary system.

 

🔶 Uterus: the organ in the lower body of a woman, where offspring are conceived and in which they grow. Also called the womb. The uterus is located directly behind the bladder. 

 

🔶 Vagina: the muscular tube leading from the external genitals to the cervix of the uterus in women. If your bladder has to be removed, many times a part of the vagina is also removed and has to be reconstructed. This can cause concerns and issues surrounding having sex again. 

 

🔶 Void / Urinate / Pee / Wee: to expel urine from the body. If you get on bladder cancer forums and groups, you will so those from the UK use the term wee. 😀