Exploring patients’ experience and perception of being diagnosed with bladder cancer: a mixed‐methods approach

Abstract

ObjectiveTo determine patient experience and perception following a diagnosis of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Patient and methodsPatients were part of a prospective multicentre observational study recruiting patients with NMIBC for a urine biomarker study (DETECT II; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02781428). A mixed-methods approach comprising: (i) the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief-IPQ) and (ii) semi-structured interviews to explore patients' experience of having haematuria, and initial and subsequent experience with a NMIBC diagnosis. Both assessments were completed at 6 months after NMIBC diagnosis. ResultsA total of 213 patients completed the Brief-IPQ. Patients felt that they had minimal symptoms (median [interquartile range, IQR] score 2 [0-5]) and were not particularly affected emotionally (median [IQR] score 3 [1-6]) with a minimal effect to their daily life (median [IQR] score 2 [0-5]). However, they remained concerned about their cancer diagnosis (median [IQR] score 5 [3-8]) and felt that they had no personal control over the cancer (median [IQR] score 2 [2-5]) and believed that their illness would affect them for some time (median [IQR] score 6 [3-10]). A significant association with a lower personal control of the disease (P < 0.05) and a poorer understanding of the management of NMIBC (P < 0.05) was seen in patients aged >70 years. Many patients were uncertain about the cause of bladder cancer. Qualitative analysis found that at initial presentation of haematuria, most patients were not aware of the risk of bladder cancer. Patients were most anxious and psychologically affected between the interval of cystoscopy diagnosis and transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT). Following TURBT, most patients were positive about their cancer prognosis.

CD47-targeted optical molecular imaging and near-infrared photoimmunotherapy in the detection and treatment of bladder cancer

“…Meanwhile, the rates of tumor upstaging in Ta and T1 patients were 0%–8% and 0%–32%, respectively. 7 As a result, the recurrence and progression rates of NMIBC patients were 15%–61% and 0.2%–17% at 1 year, and 31%–78% and 0.8%–45% at 5 years, respectively. 1 Compared with the newly diagnosed stage T2 BC patients who underwent RC immediately, patients with NMIBC upstaged to stage T2, confirmed by histopathological analysis after RC had a worse oncological prognosis.…”

“… 5 Tumor recurrence and progression not only endangers the life span of patients but also has double adverse effects on medical expenses and quality of life due to repeated surgical intervention, which has attracted more and more attention among urologists in recent years. 6 , 7 Thus, optimizing detection and complete resection of early-stage BC are critical for prolonging overall survival and reducing medical costs.…”

Overnight Continuous Saline Bladder Irrigation After En Bloc Resection of Bladder Tumor Does Not Improve Oncological Outcomes in Patients Who Have Received Intravesical Chemotherapy

“…However, we believe that our preliminary findings are very meaningful for urologists and patients with NMIBC. For patients with newly diagnosed NMIBC, urologists can choose to perform TmLRBT as day-surgery operation on them to shorten the waiting time outside the hospital, and then reduce the patient’s nervousness related to waiting outside the hospital ( 25 ). Further prospective randomized controlled trials with more patients are needed to confirm our results.…”

Fluorescent cystoscopy-assisted en bloc transurethral resection versus conventional transurethral resection in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer: study protocol of a prospective, open-label, randomized control trial (the FLEBER study)

“…Maximal effort should be made to mitigate postoperative urinary symptoms and deterioration of the QOL. A previous study demonstrated that patients with NMIBC are affected psychologically during the period between initial diagnosis using cystoscopy and TURBT [ 27 ]. Our previous report focused on the difference in the worsening of urinary symptoms and deterioration of health-related QOL between the EBTUR and cTURBT groups.…”