The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published the first clinical guideline on bladder cancer in the hope of improving diagnosis and management of the condition.
More than 10,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer in the UK every year, making it the seventh most common cancer in the country, and also – because of patients numbers, late diagnosis and the need for long-term follow-up – one of the most expensive to treat.
Overall, the disease kills 5,000 a year, but there is significant variation in survival rates, with women, the elderly and those from deprived backgrounds having worse outcomes, NICE said.
This, as well as late diagnosis and the current wide variation across the country in the treatments on offer, is something the guideline seeks to address.
Essentially, the recommendations should help the NHS focus much more on the risk to the individual, and also allow more targeted and effective use of NHS resources, noted William Turner, guideline developer and Consultant Urologist at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Access the guideline here.
