Bladder Cancer Staging
If you are diagnosed with bladder cancer, your doctor will determine the stage of the disease. Staging is a way of classifying cancer by how much of the disease is in the body and whether it has spread. This helps doctors plan the best way to treat the cancer.
In the case of bladder cancer, staging is used to find out whether the tumor has invaded the muscle layer, nearby tissues or more distant parts of the body.
Stage 0
Cancer cells are found only on the surface of the inner lining of the bladder. Your doctor may call this carcinoma in situ.
Stage 1
The tumor has grown deeper into the inner lining of the bladder, but it hasn’t invaded the muscle layer.
Stage 2
The tumor has invaded the muscle layer.
Stage 3
The cancer has grown through the muscle and reached nearby tissues of the prostate, uterus, or vagina.
Stage 4
The tumor has invaded the wall of the pelvis or abdomen, but the cancer is not found in the lymph nodes. Or, the cancer cells have spread to at least one lymph node or to parts of the body far from the bladder, such as the liver, lungs, or bones.