Bladder Cancer > Urology | Yale School of Medicine

The Prostate and Urologic Cancers Program at Yale Cancer Center offers a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach to treating urologic malignancies. A diagnosis of bladder cancer can profoundly impact your life and leave you and your loved ones with many questions about your journey ahead, but you can feel confident in the knowledge and world-renowned expertise with our urologic oncology team.

Yale Urology and the Yale Cancer Center are home to world-renowned researchers in the area of bladder cancer, providing patients access to the most advanced drug and treatment therapies available in New England. We are committed to offering our patients opportunities to access the most advanced diagnostic technologies and treatment strategies available.

Innovative Treatment

Yale Urology surgeons are at the forefront of cancer research, driving the search for new treatments and cures and staying current on the most advanced and effective techniques. We continually integrate the latest in science-based medicine and innovative approaches into our practice to offer patients safer and more effective treatments.

Our goal, with each patient we treat, is to provide the safest and most effective treatment available. Our surgeons are committed to using the most innovative and minimally invasive techniques wherever possible, to create a better surgical experience and outcome. Minimally invasive procedures require fewer and smaller incisions, and in some cases no external incisions, than those needed for traditional “open” surgery. With smaller incisions, patients can benefit from shorter recovery times and hospital stays, less postoperative pain and discomfort, and better cosmetic results with minimal or no visible scarring. A robotic-assisted surgical system provides all the benefits of minimally invasive procedures while allowing surgeons to perform surgeries with higher precision. During robotic surgery, our highly trained and skilled surgeons control every aspect of the procedure at a sophisticated robotic platform. The surgeons’ hand movements are translated into precise, micro-movements of the robotic instruments.

Improved Detection of Bladder Cancers with Cysview

Smilow Cancer Hospital is one of the only hospitals in Connecticut to offer Blue Light Cystoscopy with Cysview, which has been proven to significantly increase the detection of bladder cancer over white-light cystoscopy alone. In fact, 20.7% of patients with primary bladder cancer has had at least one tumor detected with blue light that was not detected when using white light. And 27.7% of patients with recurrent bladder cancer had at least one tumor detected with blue light that was not detected with white light, and a seven-month improvement in time to recurrence has been demonstrated.

Following diagnosis, the multidisciplinary bladder cancer team offers our patients complete care with specialized pathology, neoadjuvant therapy options, an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol, which has been demonstrated to reduce the length of stay and post-surgical complications, as well as advanced surgical techniques to maintain sexual function and bladder control.

Learn more about Cysview here.

About Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer is the formation of malignant cells originating in the tissue lining the bladder or the urothelium. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common cancer in women. There are three types of bladder cancer:

Transitional cell carcinoma – Transitional cell carcinoma originates from the bladder’s inner lining or urothelium and is the most common form of bladder cancer.
Squamous cell carcinoma – This type of bladder cancer involves the thin, flat cells of the bladder. This form of bladder cancer is not as common in the United States.
Adenocarcinoma – Adenocarcinoma originates in the cells that release mucus and other fluids. It can also originate from remnants of the umbilical cord.

Additional information about bladder cancer: