Grade vs Stage

[EddieM]

Hey there all!

Being the new guy, I’m still quite unclear on the difference between grade and stage. I’ve been told that my tumour is likely low grade. That said, can it be high stage despite the low grade?

Just need a little flashlight in the mud!

[Jack Moon]

Hi Eddie

There are 5 stages. TA means tumor attached to inside bladder wall only. T1 means tumor attached to lining of bladder. T2 means tumor did reach the muscle of the bladder and is considered invasive. T3 means the tumor has reached the outside of the bladder in the fatty tissue and possible lymph notes. T4 means the tumor has spread to other organs.
Now having said all that, normally low grade tumors are TA, some possible T1 usually unlikely but possible, and very low odds of T2 but again possible.
The vast majority of low grade tumors are stage TA.
Your stage and grade will be shown on your pathology report which you should ask for a copy from your doctor.
I hope I have not confused you.
Jack

[EddieM]

Thank you very much Jack, greatly appreciated!

[marysue]

The best “news” to get in this is “non-invasive, low grade” which translates into the coding TaG1. While you will still need regular cysto checkups you may or may not need further treatment depending on your dr’s analysis of your situation. I was “non-invasive, high grade” aka TaG3 meaning that although I didn’t need to remove my bladder it still required further treatment (BCG immunotherapy in my case) because there was a definite risk of any reoccurences becoming invasive. When this cancer becomes invasive then it is considered potentially life threatening.

Some dr’s reports will read simply either invasive or noninvasive and high or low grade. That is the way it is in Calgary. The fun tech stuff in some hospitals reads as Jack said:

TaG1 = non-invasive, low grade
TaG2 or 3 = non-invasive, medium, high grade
T1= tumour is into first layer under surface, majority are high grade and would read T1G3
T2G3 = invasive to bladder muscle, high grade and so on

Hope this helps too.

[KIOWA]

I just want to add something that confuses many people and scares the daylights out of them. Sometimes path reports will say something like “no muscle present” and is often interpreted as muscle invasive. What it really means is that the surgeon did not get a tissue sample with muscle in it. He or she didn;t get into the muscle of the bladder, which is important. So it means there is no muscle tissue to check. It may say “muscle present) which is even scarier to many people and they think it means the cancer is in the muscle. Not true, it means that the tissue sample they received has muscle cell in it which is a good thing. But if a sample has no muscle tissue and the report indicates no cancer that’s pretty good news since it likely that ere are no cancer cell to be found. Hope this helps a bit.

kiowa

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