Pelvic pain
Pelvic pain occurs in advanced stage of bladder cancer. At this stage, cancer has already spread to other organs. This is called stage 4 cancer.
Three key factors to determine stage of the tumor are:
- size of tumor
- lymph nodes metastasis
- spread to other organs
Pelvic pain occurs when tumor has spread to pelvic structures and pelvic lymph nodes. Pelvic pain and palpable pelvic lymph nodes are common signs and symptoms among these patients. Pelvic pain generally points towards worse prognosis of bladder cancer. Radical cystectomy followed by chemotherapy and immunotherapy is normally way to go for the doctors in order to manage such patients. Extreme pain can be alleviated by giving opioids to the patient.