Bladder Cancer

The Prostate and Urologic Cancers Program at Yale Cancer Center offers a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach to treating urologic malignancies. Patients are cared for at Smilow Cancer Hospital, in collaboration with Yale Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and our 12 regional Care Centers located across Connecticut. As part of your care, we engage experts who specialize in medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, pathology, and diagnostic imaging. Our physicians meet weekly in tumor board conferences to review cases and develop a comprehensive treatment plan that is unique to each patient, whether your case is complex and requires doctors from multiple specialties, or if you require a standard procedure. 

Our goal 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.

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.

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.