A Survey on 175 Cases of Bladder Cancer in the Patients Who Referred to the Hospitals Affiliated to Babol University of Medical Sciences, Iran (2001-2011)

Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer worldwide and the fourth most common cancer in males in Iran and the second most common cancer of the genitourinary system after prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to assess demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, treatments and clinical course in patients with bladder cancer in Babol city in order to provide a way for future studies and enhancing treatment quality. This cross- sectional study was performed on 175 cases of bladder cancer within the period between 2001 and 2011 and treated at hospitals affiliated to Babol Medical University. All patients’ demographic data, tumor location, clinical presentation, smoking history, primary treatment strategy and histopathologic data were collected and finally 175 patients that their information was complete enrolled in the study. Then, the survival status of each patient was followed by their medical records and phone contacting. Out of 153 men and 22 women with the mean age of 62.76±16.25 years, 19 (10.9%) patients were under 40 years of age. About 55.3% of men and 7.7% of women were smoker. Hematuria was the most common symptom at first presentation (63.4%). With respect to pathological report, 96% of the patients had transitional cell carcinoma that of all 168 TCC patients, 36 had muscle invasion. There was no significant difference between the patients over 40 years old and invasion to the muscles but there was a significant difference between hematuria and invasion to the muscles in patients with bladder cancer (p=0.017). The results of this study show that hematuria is the most common clinical symptom in patients with bladder cancer. Since there is no specific tumor marker for screening, it seems that hematuria in the men over 40 years should be followed by more serious diagnostic actions.