International Bladder Cancer Awareness Month in May: Women are increasingly suffering from bladder cancer and usually more severely than men
Bladder tumor removal with TULA laser therapy from biolitec (Source: @ biolitec)
Jena, 27. April 2023 – Men are still more frequently affected, but the tendency is clearly upward among women: The talk is of bladder cancer. In an interview on biolitec’s new TULA laser therapy, renowned urologist Dr. med. Arne Behm from Frankfurt attributes this phenomenon to socio-cultural changes: „Typical risk factors for bladder tumors are smoking, working with certain chemical substances or chronic (permanent) inflammation in the bladder.“ Thus, as women’s occupations have broadened in recent decades, it is precisely the increasing pursuit of manual and industrial occupations, and thus regular contact with these chemical substances, that could be a trigger for this development. „Furthermore, the proportion of women who smoke has increased,“ Dr. Behm adds in this regard.
Just as noteworthy as the increasing number of female diseases is the often more advanced stage in women at the time of diagnosis compared to men. The Medical University of Vienna has conducted extensive research on this topic in recent years. The physicians see one reason for the more advanced stage of female patients in the fact that women often associate their symptoms with a bladder infection or a urinary tract infection and therefore do not consult a urologist until later. For other biological reasons, too, women develop bladder cancer comparatively more severely than men. This makes it all the more important to draw attention to this fact now, during International Bladder Cancer Awareness Month in May, and to encourage both female and male patients to consult a urologist at an early stage! After all, bladder tumors are very treatable at an early stage, before they fuse with the bladder muscle.
Another piece of good news is that these superficial bladder tumors make up the vast majority. And TULA laser therapy is now available for the first time as a true alternative to traditional tumor removal using an electrical snare. Laser therapy can be performed directly during cystoscopy and offers a number of advantages:
– It can be performed on an outpatient basis in a specialist’s office
– The procedure can be performed completely without anesthesia
– Blood thinning medication does not have to be discontinued beforehand
– Therefore, ideally suited for frequently recurring bladder tumors.
Dr. Behm works with TULA laser therapy in his practice and uses it primarily for recurrent bladder tumors: „In traditional treatment, the tumor would have to be removed under anesthesia, usually in the hospital. Laser therapy offers these patients an alternative in which treatment can take place on an outpatient basis and under local anesthesia. This is a very big advantage, especially in the affected age group.“ After all, the average age at which the disease first appears is over 70, so aspects such as previous illnesses and the gentlest possible treatment play an important role in the choice of therapy.
Image source: @ biolitec
biolitec® is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies in the field of minimally invasive laser applications and is offering in the field of photodynamic therapy (PDT) the laser-assisted treatment of cancer with the drug Foscan®, registered in the EU. Since 1999, biolitec® is focused on the development of minimally invasive, gentle laser procedures. The unique LEONARDO® diode laser from biolitec® is the first universally applicable medical laser with a combination of two wavelengths, 980 nm and 1470 nm, which can be used in all disciplines. ELVeS® Radial® (ELVeS® = Endo Laser Vein System) is the world’s most common laser system for treating venous insufficiency. In proctology, biolitec® offers a maximum sphincter-sparing therapy for anal fistulas as well as treatment options for hemorrhoids and pilonidal cysts. In urology, the range of therapies has expanded from benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) to bladder and prostate tumors. The LEONARDO® Mini laser, which weighs only 900 g, has been specially developed for mobile applications. Gentle laser applications in the fields of gynecology, ENT, thoracic surgery and pneumology, esthetics, and orthopedics are also part of biolitec®’s business field. The latest development is the tissue-preserving biolitec® laser method ThyLA for benign enlarged thyroid glands. Further information is available at www.biolitec.com
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biolitec AG
Joern Gleisner
Untere Viaductgasse 6/9
1030 Wien
+49 (0) 3641 / 51953-36
+49 (0) 6172 / 27159-69
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biolitec
Joern Gleisner
Otto-Schott-Str. 15
07745 Jena
+49 (0) 3641 / 51953-36
+49 (0) 6172 / 27159-69