Q: My husband, 87, has bladder cancer. I heard something about “pixie dust” that has to do with refrigeration, stem cells, and pig tissue. Can you help me find some literature on this?
A: The pixie dust is called extra cellular matrix, and you can read more about it in this article.
It is still in the research phase and not widely in use. With superficial bladder cancers (90% of all bladder cancers) the cancer can be removed from inside of the bladder, and the bladder can be saved.
For more advanced muscle invasive bladder cancers, radiation and chemotherapy can be sued to attack the cancer to have about a 50% chance of long-term cure. Or the entire bladder can be removed and a new bladder (neobladder) can be made out of small bowel intestine.
At his age most likely he will not be able to go through a cystectomy or removal of bladder surgery. but he might be able to have radiation and chemotherapy for his bladder cancer.
— Answer from Dr. David, an oncologist on JustAnswer.
Daily Answer is excerpted from the JustAnswer archives and features information provided by a Expert on JustAnswer.
