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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffYour bladder is a muscular, balloon-shaped organ located in your pelvis. It stores urine that your kidneys produce during the process of filtering your blood. Like a balloon, the bladder gets larger or smaller depending on the amount of urine it's holding. Urine passes from your kidneys into your bladder through thin tubes called ureters and is eliminated from your body through another narrow tube, the urethra.
How cancer develops
Cancer occurs when healthy cells go awry. Rather than grow and divide in an orderly way, these cells develop mutations that cause them to grow out of control and not die. These abnormal cells form a tumor.
Types of bladder cancer
Different types of cells in your bladder can become cancerous. The type of cell involved in your cancer determines the type of treatments that may work best for you. Types of bladder cancer include:
- Transitional cell carcinoma. Transitional cell carcinoma occurs in the cells that line the inside of your bladder. Transitional cells expand when your bladder is full and contract when your bladder is empty. These same cells line the inside of your ureters and your urethra, and tumors can form in those places as well. Transitional cell carcinoma is the most common type of bladder cancer in the United States.
- Squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous cells appear in your bladder in response to infection and irritation. Over time they can become cancerous. Squamous cell bladder cancer is rare in the United States. It's a more common type of bladder cancer in areas of the world where a certain parasitic infection (schistosomiasis) is a more prevalent cause of bladder infections.
- Adenocarcinoma. Adenocarcinoma begins in cells that make up mucus-secreting glands in the bladder. Adenocarcinoma of the bladder is rare in the United States.
Some bladder cancers include more than one type of cell.
