Bladder cancer: chemoprevention, complementary approaches and budgetary considerations

Bladder cancer results from complex and only partially understood host-environmental interactions. Tobacco smoking is the greatest risk factor for bladder cancer, but the actual risk to an individual reflects not only the amount of exposure to the carcinogens in tobacco smoke but also host susceptibility to these carcinogens and possibly other factors. Lifestyle may have a significant effect on the incidence of this disease. The forms of chemoprevention and their relevance to bladder cancer, the impact of lifestyle and complementary medicine, and the costs of diagnosing and treating bladder cancer are reviewed to provide a base for advances in decreasing the incidence, recurrence and costs of this disease.