Below the belt podcast: breaking the taboo on bladder cancer with Professor John Kelly

Posted: 26/05/2023

More than 10,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year. Any cancer diagnosis is overwhelming and bladder cancer particularly so because, as a ‘below the belt’ cancer, there is often a taboo associated with it.

This short series has been created to assist those currently living with bladder cancer, as well as their family and friends, by taking a journey from early symptoms to life post treatment.

Associates Louise Taylor and Lyndsey Banthorpe are joined by John Kelly, Professor of Uro-Oncology at University College London. Professor Kelly is also a consultant urological surgeon and lead for the London Cancer Urology Surgery Centre and robotic surgery programme at University College London Hospitals. He also holds the position of head of urology for NHS England.

Professor Kelly is internationally renowned for his pioneering work in bladder cancer, and he has been instrumental in developing studies to explore new treatments and is a pioneer in robotic techniques for bladder surgery and bladder reconstruction. He has published extensively on various matters considering surgical techniques and processes to improve recovery following the surgery.

Most recently he published the biggest study in the world comparing robotic and open surgery. He cares for patients with bladder cancer at all stages and he works in teams in his private and NHS practice to provide counselling and support in decision making, making him very well placed to answer all of the questions Louise and Lyndsey have for him. Across the five episodes, Professor Kelly breaks down the science into a digestible format to enable listeners to process and understand their diagnosis and understand what their future may look like.

Survival rates for bladder cancer can be lower than for a number of other common cancers, especially in the case of aggressive tumours, where a delayed diagnosis of months or even weeks can mean the difference between a treatable condition and a life-changing, if not fatal, outcome. Women are disproportionately affected by delayed referrals for bladder cancer investigation, often mistakenly treated for other more common gynaecological and urological issues, including UTIs and menopause and prolapse instead.

We hope you find the series helpful and informative. If you have any questions, including around delayed diagnosis, please do not hesitate to contact Louise Taylor or Lyndsey Banthorpe.

Introduction

Episode one: symptoms and signs

Episode two: diagnosis and treatment options

Episode three: operative treatment

Episode four: post operative life

Episode five: lifestyle and prevention

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