University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center Offers Comprehensive Cancer Care Throughout the Treatment Process
UH Seidman Cancer Center multidisciplinary team of surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and pathologists is proactive in developing an action plan to treat an individual’s bladder cancer.
Bladder cancer staging is based on imaging studies and biopsy results. Understanding a patient’s stage of disease is extremely important when it comes to selecting the most appropriate form of treatment.
As with most types of cancer, a patient’s recovery is often based on the stage of his or her disease. With bladder cancer, the stage of the cancer refers to the size of the cancer present and also to the extent in which it has invaded the bladder wall and spread to other areas of the body.
Bladder Cancer Stages
- Stage CIS: cancer that is flat and is limited to the innermost lining of the bladder; CIS is high grade
- Stage Ta: cancer that is limited to the most superficial mucosal layer (innermost lining) of the bladder
- Stage T1: cancer that has penetrated beyond the mucosal layer into the submucosal tissue
- Stage T2: cancer that has invaded part way through the thickness of the muscular bladder wall
- Stage T3: cancer that has invaded all the way through the thickness of the muscular bladder wall and into surrounding fat
- Stage T4: cancer that has invaded adjacent structures, such as the prostate, uterus, or vagina, but not to lymph nodes in the region
- Stage T1-4N1-2M1-2: cancer that has spread to the outer abdominal or pelvic wall, to lymph nodes, or to distant organs such as the liver, lungs, or bones
Patients diagnosed with any of the above stages of bladder cancer can count on UH Seidman Cancer Center physicians and specialists to educate them and evaluate all available treatment options.