These are some questions a patient may want to ask the doctor before having radiation therapy. For internal radiation, radiation implants are placed in the bladder either through the urethra or during surgery. The patient stays in the hospital for several days while the implant is in place. To protect others from exposure to radiation, patients may not be able to have visitors or may have visitors for only a short time. Once an implant is removed, there is no radioactivity in the body.
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
The doctor may use one drug or a combination of drugs. Chemotherapy may be used alone or after TUR with fulguration to treat superficial bladder cancer. In a treatment called intravesical chemotherapy, anticancer drugs are placed in the bladder through a tube called a catheter , which is inserted through the urethra. When given in this way, the anticancer drugs, which remain in the bladder for several hours, affect mainly the cells of the bladder. The treatment is usually done once a week for several weeks.