Blood in urine, how likely is bladder cancer?

7 years 6 months ago - 7 years 6 months ago #51855 by Jack R
Joe,

I too wondered if bloody urine meant bladder cancer. So I searched.

Healthline lists 42 possible causes for blood in the urine, and ranks them from most common to least common. Their ranking process is a bit shaky as it sometimes focuses on a precise single issue and then combines a number of unique situations into one heading.

There is general agreement (from my reading) that blood in urine is far MORE likely to be caused something other than bladder cancer. When we focus on bladder cancer, we can be misled by the constant linkage of blood in the urine to bladder cancer. People researching kidney issues also find constant linkage of bloody urine being due to a kidney problem.

Healthline ranked bladder cancer as the 8th most common cause of blood in the urine. Assuming they have the order correct, and assuming the only known fact is "blood in the urine", then, statistically, MORE than 91 % of the time the cause of blood in the urine is NOT bladder cancer. This is the best we can conclude from ranked data.

In the real world, given how common some of the more frequent causes are, it is quite possible that blood in the urine is caused by bladder cancer FAR less than 1 % (one percent) of the time.

The important point is that blood in the urine CAN be an early sign of a major health problem and it must be investigated.

www.healthline.com/symptom/blood-in-urine

Best
Jack

6/2015 HG Papillary & CIS
3 Years and 30 BCG/BCG+Inf
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RCC found in my one & only kidney 10/17
Begin Chemo; Cisplatin and Gemzar
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7 years 6 months ago #51853 by sara.anne
Replied by sara.anne on topic Blood in urine, how likely is bladder cancer?
So sorry that you are having these worries. And the answer to your question is, "it depends" Some people never had urinary blood ...myself, for example. Others have blood in their urine and the reason is not bladder cancer, but is never found. It is all guess work at this point unfortunately. It is only one possible cause, and there are more that are NOT bladder cancer than are. And while of course you want to get this settled asap, a few weeks wait will not make any difference. If it IS bladder cancer, it has been there for years anyway.

So please remember, it very well may NOT be bladder cancer. AND if it is, and is found early, it can be very treatable.

Wishing you all the best on your upcoming tests.

Sara Anne

Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
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7 years 6 months ago #51852 by BigRIJoe
Replied by BigRIJoe on topic Blood in urine, how likely is bladder cancer?
11 weeks ago I peed blood two consecutive times in the morning. Since then I have not had any blood in my urine since. I went to my family doctor 4 days after the peeing incident and he had me give 3 urine samples. I did not have a regularly scheduled appointment unti almost 9 weeks later and I was told that two out of the three tests had atypical cells and the third test showed normal cells. He then set me up with a local urologist. After getting over the anger about not being contacted earlier, I saw the urologist. He did a urine sample in the office and found no blood in the urine. As a precaution he's scheduled a CT scan abd a cytology test. I have the following potential risk factors: I was treated with radiation for testicular cancer at the age of 38 over 25 years ago, and I worked in the textile industry from 1975-2001. I am also taking Plavex for an implanted stent. I have never had blood in my urine before the event described and have not had it for the last 11 weeks. Obviously I will wait for the CT scan and the cytology, but I need to ask how often does a person with bladder cancer have blood in their urine? I have none of the other symptoms, i.e. weak flow, urgent need to urinate increased frequency of urination,etc.

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9 years 2 months ago #48095 by dieseldoc
Replied by dieseldoc on topic Blood in urine, how likely is bladder cancer?
The first time I had tumors, I saw the Uro at 10:00 AM and was in surgery by 2:00 PM and was at home by 5:00 PM the same day. That was probably an extreme case because out of the 5 tumors I had, the largest one was 5 cm.

T1,NO,MO battling bladder cancer since 2005

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9 years 2 months ago #48074 by fighterm
Replied by fighterm on topic Blood in urine, how likely is bladder cancer?
I was told in Oct that I had TCC after my ct scan, but my two doctors, a hematologist and a urologist, decided that I wait almost 4 months until I finish the chemo for lymphoma. I worry that the TCC is growing, but there is nothing I can do. I have to trust my doctors.I hope I have a low grade. And I hope that there will be good treatments for all cancers in 5 years. I watched a web presentation about cancer stem cells that drive cancer invasion and metastasis and about how to kill them. There is hope for all of us, we just have to survive a little longer to get cured.

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9 years 2 months ago #48073 by sara.anne
Replied by sara.anne on topic Blood in urine, how likely is bladder cancer?
The tumor has probably been there for a long time. A few weeks arranging the appointment for a TURB is not unusual and will not affect the results. I believe that it was about 6 weeks between my cystoscopy and the TURB.

You will be fine!

Sara Anne

Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
Forum Moderator

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