Chemotherapy is a treatment of cancer by destructing the cancer cells because they are growing and dividing. Not like normal cells, cancer cells are not capable to repair this damage and die.
Chemotherapy drugs are generally given from mouth or injected intravenously. But, in intravesical chemotherapy, the drugs are kept directly into the bladder by by means of a flexible tube called a catheter. Intravesical chemotherapy was used only for non-invasive bladder cancer, as the chemotherapy deliver to the bladder was not able to arrive at cancer cells in any nearby tissues or cells that have been spread to other adjacent parts of the body. Each treatment is know an instillation. The chemotherapy treatment can be given as one instillation at the time of treatment, or as weekly instillations for 6 weeks.
PROCEDURE:
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Patients are asked to lie on their back on a treatment couch. After sterilizing with an antiseptic agent, a small tube known as catheter that will be inserted into patient’s urethra (water pipe) and will settle in place for up to 1 hour.
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Then the nurse will inserts the intravesical therapy from the catheter into patient’s bladder. You need to hold the treatment in the bladder for 1 hour.
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Once the catheter was removed, patients will be given certain date for the appointment by the following week. Patient will then able to go home. It was normal to see ‘bits’ or clots in your urine when the treatment was performed.
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These are scabs by the tumour breaking away from wall of the bladder. Patient can eat usually before and after the treatment, but needs to reduce the fluid intake for 2 to 4 hours before the treatment starts.
The advantages of the treatment are that it can reduce the risk of the tumour recurring.
