Medical Evaluation

The doctor will ask you your medical history and your family's and will perform a physical exam. If your symptoms indicate possible bladder cancer, your doctor will feel the lower abdomen for tenderness or tumor. A urinalysis will be done to detect blood and cancer cells in the urine. If the test is positive, a cystoscopy (examination of the bladder using a visual instrument) is done. A cystoscopy is usually done by a urologist, a specialist in diseases of the urinary system. Specimens called biopsies can be taken for examination under a microscope.

Pathologists are physicians who conduct laboratory studies of tissues and cells. They are usually members of the medical team who identify the type of tumor, assign a grade to the cancerous tumor and determine how severe it might be.

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.