The bladder cancer ‘warning’ symptom women need to know about – which GPs often wrongly dismiss as a side effect of the menopause or a urinary tract infection.

GPs often overlook the warning signs of bladder cancer and wrongly dismiss them as urinary infections, menopausal symptoms and gynecological problems, experts say.

It is claimed that outdated guidelines mean that women under 55 will, on average, have to visit their doctors several times with the same complaints before being referred for diagnostic tests for bladder cancer.

With a recent survey showing two thirds of bladder cancer patients were initially misdiagnosed with another disease, there are fears the delays could cost lives.

“We know from studies that women with bladder cancer visited a doctor five times on average with complaints of symptoms before being referred to a specialist,” says oncologist Dr Alison Birtle. consultant clinician specializing in urological cancer.

“But a single episode of blood in your urine should trigger this referral.

“There is a perception that younger women don’t get bladder cancer, but I have treated many women who were diagnosed in their 20s or 30s.

“GP guidelines recommend not referring women under 45, but this is based on old historical data and we need to consider that anyone can get the disease, rather than suffer this non- general orientation.”

Besides blood in the urine, symptoms of bladder cancer include more frequent and painful urination, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, incontinence, and abdominal pain.

Around 10,000 people are diagnosed with the disease each year, 80% of them over 65. It is linked to smoking and is three times more likely to occur in men than in women.

However, Dr Lydia Makaroff, chief executive of the charity Fight Bladder Cancer, says the growing number of telephone GP appointments means many women are being wrongly prescribed antibiotics to treat a tract infection urine (UTI), without undergoing a simple test that would rule out such an infection. and report possible signs of cancer.

“Women wait longer than men to get a diagnosis, with younger people waiting the longest,” says Dr. Makaroff.

“When a patient suspects a UTI, they should have a urine test to confirm the diagnosis. But this doesn’t happen, even when patients return a second time.

“This means women are often in a cycle of misdiagnosis and experience critical delays in treatment.”

Experts say a lack of awareness, stigma around symptoms, few treatment options and misrepresentation as a disease of older people means bladder cancer has become a “disease”. from Cinderella” – ignored by research funding, celebrity and public support. awareness.

A recent survey showed that two thirds of bladder cancer patients were initially misdiagnosed with another disease (stock image)

However, in recent years, revolutionary treatments have increased survival rates.

In one trial, patients with incurable bladder cancer who received an antibody, enfortumab vedotin, along with an immunotherapy treatment, pembrolizumab, lived twice as long as those who received standard chemotherapy . A third were left without any signs of illness.

Later this year the treatment will be submitted to NHS spending watchdogs for approval.

“It will be extremely disappointing for patients and clinicians if it is not approved,” adds Dr Birtle.

Professor Thomas Powles, director of the Barts Cancer Center and a bladder cancer treatment specialist who led the trial, added: “I think we will cure a large number of patients (with this treatment). I have participated in many trials during my career, but this one seems to be the most transformative and exciting.

Separately, US pharmaceutical company MSD is conducting a targeted “cancer vaccine” trial on patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, which was recently successfully tested in people with melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

And Professor Simon Crabb, from the University of Southampton, is leading the £3 million Gusto trial, which is investigating personalized cancer treatment.

By examining the “gene expression” of 320 patients, the team hopes to determine which treatment is most responsive – either chemotherapy, immunotherapy or surgery.

But despite these exciting advances, Dr. Birtle says getting a diagnosis and treatment remains a constant struggle.

“I feel like in the 20 years I’ve been a consultant, it still seems to be an uphill battle for our bladder cancer patients, and many of them are very young.

“Until we review the national GP guidelines and change things, we will be letting our patients down.”

What is the difference… between tachycardia and tachypnea

Tachycardia refers to an abnormally fast heart rate, defined as greater than 100 beats per minute at rest.

It can be caused by heart disease, anemia, stress, anxiety and stimulant use.

Symptoms include rapid pulse, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness and chest pain.

It is rarely life-threatening and treatment may involve medications to slow the heart or cardioversion – an electric shock to return the heart to a normal rhythm.

Tachypnea refers to rapid breathing and may include wheezing or coughing.

Treatment focuses on the cause, such as inhalers for asthma or antibiotics for pneumonia. Severe cases may require an oxygen mask.