BCG Bladder Cancer Treatment What Does it Mean?

BCG bladder cancer treatment refers to a type of treatment for bladder cancer that uses bacteria to kill the cancer cells in the bladder. BCG actually stands for Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, the name of the bacteria used in this process.

BCG has been used since 1921; it was used to prevent tuberculosis in babies and children. It was then noticed that children who had received BCG treatment had a much lower incidence of leukemia.

Doctors in the 1970s had success using BCG with lung, skin and other cancers, and in 1976 BCG was used successfully for bladder cancer to reduce the recurrence of tumors. BCG obtained FDA approval in 1990. This treatment is indicated in bladder cancer when tumors recur, when the cancer is not low grade and when the tumor is only superficial or has not spread.

The BCG treatment is currently the best treatment available for superficial cancer of the bladder. The BCG solution contains the living vaccine used for tuberculosis; when it is put into the bladder, BCG works by attracting white blood cells which quickly multiply, making cancer-killing molecules that attack the cancer cells.

It is a biological treatment that stimulates the body's own immune system to fight the cancer, and is also known as immunotherapy or biotherapy. BCG is used most often after a transurethral resection, which is a surgical procedure to remove the tumor. The BCG bladder cancer treatment helps to prevent the bladder cancer returning.

The doctor will use a catheter, a thin piece of tubing, to put the solution containing the weakened bacterial solution directly into the bladder. The patient needs to refrain from urinating for approximately two hours to hold the solution in the bladder to do its job; fifteen minutes of this time needs to be spent lying on the stomach. The treatment is usually repeated weekly for six weeks, and then a maintenance program may be followed.

While no treatment is effective all the time, for all patients, BCG has been shown to be effective with the most aggressive bladder cancers. Sometimes the treatment will be accompanied by interferon, high doses of vitamin A, B6, C and vitamin E to increase the efficacy of the BCG.

As with many cancer treatments, there are some possible side effects to the BCG bladder cancer treatment. These side effects include:

• Irritation to the bladder
• Urgency to urinate
• Frequent urination
• Pain in the area
• Mild burning when urinating
• Blood in the urine
• General fatigue
• Mild fever
• Nausea
• Feeling if being chilled

These symptoms are to be expected after the 2nd or 3rd treatment. The fever, general aching and chills are similar to the reaction to a flu injection. The symptoms show that the solution is working the way it is meant to and stimulating your immune system to respond to and attack the cancer cells. The symptoms should only be mild and last for a few days. If the symptoms persist, take the specific antibiotics you will have been given to ease the effect of the BCG.

Continued research has shown that BCG not only helps to prevent the cancer returning, it also reduces the progression of bladder cancer through the stages of the cancer, when a maintenance program of BCG is used. This is something that chemotherapy has so far failed to do.