Ultrasound examination
During an ultrasound examination (sonography), a patient's bladder can be assessed and the urologist can see whether tumors are growing starting from the bladder wall.
Sonography requires only a small amount of time and is performed without pain or discomfort. At the same time, modern examination equipment provides a high resolution and very good quality for assessing the interior of an organ. In addition, modern color-coded duplex sonography can even show changes in the blood supply to the tissue.
However, sonography also has its limitations and very flat bladder tumors, which grow more like a lawn on the bladder mucosa, can usually not be detected. Therefore, ultrasound examination is essential in the context of urological screening, but it is not sufficient in the case of acute suspicion of bladder carcinoma. In this case, a cystoscopy must still be performed after the ultrasound.
In summary, sonography is indispensable in the diagnosis of bladder carcinoma because it is a simple and informative examination method, but it is only one piece of the mosaic for a comprehensive tumor search.