Cystectomy is the surgical removal of the urinary bladder.
Your doctor has several reasons for recommending removal of the whole bladder:
- Presence of a muscle-invasive tumour
- Presence of a tumour that grows aggressively (high grade), that has multiple cancerous areas (multifocal), or that is superficial, but has recurred after chemotherapy or immunotherapy
- Failure of or recurrence after a bladder-sparing approach (chemoradiation) or the occurrence of major side-effects
- Symptoms like bleeding or pain in patients with incurable disease
