A bladder tumor is a cancer of the bladder lining. It normally looks like a piece of red cauliflower growing off the wall of the bladder. The tumor has a large number of blood vessels in it. When these break, they bleed. This is why most people with these tumors have blood in their urine.
The most common cause of bladder tumors is smoking. Exposure to certain petroleum products, aniline dyes and heavy metals have also been associated with bladder cancer.
The surgery is done to remove small, shallow tumors from the inside surface of the bladder for the treatment of non-invasive bladder cancer. It is also used to biopsy for larger or aggressive cancer.
When someone is found to have a tumor in the bladder, it needs to be resected (scraped out). This is done using a special telescope called a resectoscope. Many times the only treatment that is necessary is having the tumor resected. If the tumor is large, the tumor cells look aggressive (high-grade tumors), or the tumor recurs chemotherapy is needed. This chemotherapy is instilled into the bladder through a catheter.