This May 5th marks World Bladder Cancer Day, a date that seeks to raise awareness about this disease that affects thousands of people around the world. Within this framework, professionals from the Ñuble Health Service and the Herminda Martín Clinical Hospital highlighted the importance of prevention and timely detection, which can be carried out in the Region’s healthcare network.
Bladder cancer is a disease that begins in the cells of the urinary bladder. One of its main risk factors is smoking, as well as unhealthy habits and age, since most diagnoses occur in people over 65 years of age.
For this reason, the Director(s), Elizabeth Abarca Triviño, stressed that “timely detection is essential for the effective treatment of bladder cancer. In this sense, the main thing is to maintain controls and contact with the primary care health teams. Above all, it is key that we work on self-care and prevention, eradicating habits such as smoking; Tobacco consumption is directly related to the development of most cancers. Therefore, the main recommendation is not to smoke.
“At the same time, we must incorporate healthy practices into our lives, such as a balanced diet, avoiding alcohol consumption, physical activity, among other actions that protect our health,” said the directive.
For her part, Andrea Hernández Sánchez, Head of the Explicit Health Guarantee Processes and Management Section, recalled that “bladder cancer is one of the GES pathologies, which means that people aged 15 years and over with a tumor diagnosis malignant whose origin is in the bladder, have the right to an evaluation and diagnosis within a maximum period of 30 days from the suspicion of the disease, as well as timely and quality treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy if necessary. accurate.
warning signs
This type of cancer is usually asymptomatic in its early stages, therefore prevention and maintaining contact with health teams are key. In this sense, Dr. Gonzalo Gil, Urologist at the Herminda Martín Clinical Hospital, explained that “the most classic sign and one that should alert us the most is the presence of blood in the urine. This can manifest itself in different ways, such as a slight red tint or very red colored urine. In some cases, there may also be urine with the presence of clots. Any of these manifestations, even without pain or discomfort, should lead to consulting a health facility, since there is a possibility that it is bladder cancer. In some cases, persistent micturition or urinary irritative symptoms should also worry us, especially in smokers, because the inflammation produced by tobacco in the bladder can lead to bladder cancer in the long term.
“It is very important to take into account that tobacco is the main risk factor. All cancers occur when there is chronic inflammation of an organ. So, if a patient smokes, all the harmful components of tobacco, after passing through the lungs, end up in the blood, and the kidneys remove them. And what about the harmful components? These go to the bladder and inflame it, which can cause symptoms, as we already mentioned, blood in the urine. The problem is that chronic inflammation of the bladder can cause the cells to mutate and this in the long term can lead to cancer”, emphasized the professional.
GES Pathology at no cost thanks to Zero Copayment
The implementation of the Zero Copayment has meant great relief for users of the public health system, especially for those belonging to sections FONASA C and D. Thanks to this initiative, the cost that they had to bear for some medical treatments and procedures has been eliminated , which has allowed greater accessibility and equity in health care.
For example, bladder cancer surgery has a fee of $2,433,290 and if you belong to FONASA D, the amount that corresponded to pay before was $486,660, but with the change in regulations, now all groups are free of charge.
