Bladder Cancer G3PT1 Prognosis

Hi Leo

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the online community. It is good to see you have joined a few of our forums here. I do hope you are finding them supportive. My name is Ursula, and I’m one of the cancer information nurses, here on the Macmillan Support Line. 

Thank you for sharing details of your diagnosis and treatment history for non-muscle invasive blader cancer.

BCG treatment is usually recommended in high-risk bladder cancer and sometimes with intermediate risk bladder cancer. This treatment helps prevent the cancer coming back into the bladder lining and can also reduce the risk of the cancer becoming muscle invasive.

It is understandable to have questions around prognosis and survival statistics. Here on the the Macmillan support line, we are independent of the NHS, and do not have access to medical records or information. It is not possible for us to advise on your prognosis directly. We would suggest you discuss this with your specialist team (Consultant, or clinical nurse specialist, if you have one). As they oversee your care and treatment, they will be best placed to offer you more individualised answers around this.

The prognosis for non-muscle invasive bladder cancers can depend on several factors, including:

• exactly how far the cancer cells have gone into the bladder lining
• the number of tumours
• how wide the tumours are.
• how abnormal the cancer cells look under the microscope (the grade)
• whether CIS (high grade changes in the bladder lining) is present
• whether this a recurrence and how often a tumour has recurred

Your specialist team will use this information to work out whether there is a low, intermediate, or high risk of the cancer coming back or spreading into the muscle of the bladder.

Cancer Research UK has some information on survival for bladder cancer. Their information states that there are no UK wide statistics available for bladder cancer by stage, and their statistics are for men and women diagnosed between 2013 and 2017 with bladder cancer in England. It does focus on 5 tear survival percentages.

There is some very general information on 10 year survival for common cancers Please note, this data does not differentiate between Non-muscle invasive and muscle invasive bladder cancer. Again, your specialist team may be able to support you with your query further as they may be aware of other research or data in this area.

I do hope you find this information helpful, but please do not hesitate to get back in touch with us if you need any further support. 

Best wishes, 

Ursula, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.  

Ref: UH/GH