Will my Cancer come back?
THERE IS A SHORT SUMMARY ONLY OF THIS TOPIC ON THIS PAGE. HOWEVER, YOU CAN LINK HERE TO AN EXTERNAL WEBSITE WITH MUCH MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOPIC.
To get some understanding of how likely it is that your cancer will return you will need to know the staging and grading classifications allocated to it by your consultant.
What is staging?
Cancers are divided into stages, depending on how far they have grown. The staging system normally used in bladder cancer is called TNM, which stands for tumour, node, metastasis. So TTUM staging takes into account how deeply the tumour has grown into the bladder, Whether there is cancer in the lymph nodes, and whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body
The T stages of bladder cancer
Cancer that is only in the innermost lining of the bladder is classed as carcinoma in situ (CIS or Tis), or Ta. Cancer that has grown further into the bladder has a T number from 1 to 4. In Tl, the cancer has started to grow into the connective tissue just under the bladder lining. In T4, it has spread outside the bladder. and T2 and T3 are in between. Ta, Tl and CIS tumours are classed as non muscle invasive superficial) or early bladder cancer. T2 and T3 are classed as invasive bladder cancer. T4 is called advanced bladder cancer.
Grade
You may hear doctors talk about the grade of your cancer. This mean show well developed the cells look under the microscope. In low grade cancers, the cells look very like normal cells and tend to grow slowly and stay within the bladder lining. High grade cancers tend to grow more quickly and are more likely to come back after treatment (recur) or to spread into the muscle layer of the bladder.
