Some say bladder cancer Has gone to more parts of the body?!
Question:
Some say bladder cancer Has gone to more parts of the body?
Is this true? My 58 year dad Had bladder cancer and is on cemo. Is bladder cancer Bad?
Answers:
When cancer is first diagnosed a doctor will do two things . . stage the cancer and grade the tumor. What this means is that he will look at the cancer in the bladder to see if there is only one small tumor if only one is there than he might call it a STAGE 1. Stage 1 means that there is not much cancer there, but enough that he would need to have surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. The next Stage is 2. That means there is more than one tumor, maybe a different size, maybe two or dozens, but still a little small. The next Stage is 3. Stage 3 is serious because the tumor or tumors are now fairly large and may start to be growing through the wall of the bladder and going into other areas around the bladder. A stage 4 is very advanced. Stage 4 means that the large cancer tumor has begun to 'shed' smaller, microscopic cancer cells. These small cells are tiny enough to get into a persons blood stream or lymphatic system. The small cancer cells travel all around the body . . sometimes hundreds of them and find other places to lodge and begin to grow a 'bladder cancer tumor'. These cells can go into the liver and establish a secondary cancer spot. Or they can go into the bone. Or into the kidney. Or into the brain and set up new cancer tumors. This is called Metastatic cancer because it can travel.
The doctor will also look at the tumor cells under a microscope and determine if the cells are Low grade, Medium grade, or High grade. Low means that the cells look somewhat normal. Medium means they are starting to change rapidly. High means that the cancer cell is totally abnormal looking.
You need to ask your father what Stage his bladder cancer is now in. In general, the higher the stage the higher the grade of tumor.
There is treatment for all four stages of bladder cancer. Much will depend on how your father responds to treatment.
You can read the Clinical Guidelines for Bladder cancer to learn more: