A staging system is a standard way for the cancer care team to describe how far a bladder cancer has spread based on three key pieces of information:
T
Describes how far the main cancer has grown through the bladder wall and whether it has grown into nearby tissues.
N
Indicates any cancer spread of the cancer to lymph nodes near the bladder. Lymph nodes are bean-sized collections of immune system cells to which cancers often spread first.
M
Indicates whether or not the cancer has spread (metastasised) to distant sites, such as other organs or lymph nodes that are not near the bladder.
Download our Bladder Cancer Australia booklet for more information on all categories and staging of Bladder Cancer in Australia