Which symptoms and side effects of bladder cancer are expected and which require immediate medical attention? Urologic oncologist Dr. Michael Poch reviews the signs that patients and care partners should never ignore, common treatment-related side effects to watch for, and when it’s time to contact the healthcare team.
Dr. Michael Poch is a urologic oncologist specializing in bladder cancer and prostate cancer at Moffitt Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Poch.
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Transcript
Katherine Banwell:
Dr. Poch, what symptoms or side effects should care partners be aware of? And what indicates a need to call the care team?
Dr. Michael Poch:
So, it depends on where you are in the treatment process. I think that when we talk about a lot of our bladder cancer treatments, a lot of them have local side effects where you can see local side effects meaning that you can see bladder side effects. Whether that’s blood in the urine. Whether that’s the inability to pee. Whether that’s spasms or burning. But we also want to look for signs of urinary tract infections. So, that’s a high fever. Or, signs that the kidneys may be infected, as well. And there’s a host of signs after we do a bladder removal surgery where you can see nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and those kinds of things. And those are all indications that you need to get into contact with your care team ‘cause those are significant red flags.
Katherine Banwell:
And as far as side effects, patients could be having side effects from the medications they’re getting, yes?
Dr. Michael Poch:
Correct. Absolutely. A lot of the medications that we put in the bladder can have side effects. A lot of the medications that we give through IVs, again whether it’s that immunotherapy, or chemotherapy, or antibody drug conjugate treatment can all have side effects. With the newer medications, sometimes we see neuropathy. An increasing neuropathy. So, I think that that’s certainly something that we need to be mindful of. You can end up getting low blood counts, as well, with some of our chemotherapy drugs. And the immunotherapy, although it sounds like it’s less toxic than some of our chemotherapies, the immunotherapies can also have a pretty significant side effect profile, as well. So, all of those drugs, anytime you’re doing something to somebody’s body, can have a side effect associated with it.