NEW METHOD OF DETECTING BLADDER CANCER
Shedding Light on Bladder Cancer
Urologists Use Optics,
Chemistry to Catch Small Tumors
October 1, 2005 — Some bladder cancer tumors are so small, surgeons can’t see them. Urologist Edward Messing is using a new liquid dye that reacts to light to help him see all the small bladder tumors that might have been missed in conventional biopsies.
ROCHESTER, N.Y.–The earlier the better, when it comes to detecting cancer. Now, doctors are shedding new light on detecting the deadly disease. Currently, 400-000 people suffer from it while 60,000 more will find out they have it, and bladder cancer usually strikes more than once.
Larry Sylvan, a cancer survivor, says, “At nine months it was back.” He knows what it’s like to battle bladder cancer. Sylvan’s doctor, Edward Messing, says, “The surgery was successful; I got everything I could see.” The doctor’s key word — see; some bladder cancer tumors are so small, surgeons can’t see them.
Dr. Messing, a urologist at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center in Rochester, N.Y., says, “Before it was sort of blind guessing.” A new photo-sensitizer, a liquid dye inserted into the bladder, improves detection of those small tumors. Under ordinary light, everything looks fine, but when the florescent light is turned on, the entire background looks blue, except where the tumor is — that shows up bright red.
Jerry Gulette was one of the first patients to use the dye. He’s battled bladder cancer time and time again. Dr. Messing says, “I had seen maybe four, five tumors when I cystoscoped him with the white light. And when we turned on this pink light there were 12 or 13.”
More than 94 percent of the people diagnosed with bladder cancer will survive it if it’s caught in the early stages. That’s why this new procedure is so critical for those diagnosed.
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