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Bladder cancer - MDT assessment

druid61
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Hi, it's very early stages for me and having read some of these posts I feel that by comparison I'm complaining about the common cold. Had a cystoscopy a couple of weeks ago and I am due for a TURBT on Monday. The urologist said he was sure the growth he saw  was  cancerous although he gave me lots of information about possible treatments if it was more serious. I don't think a biopsy was done at the time. A worried looking nurse came to afterwards and asked me to sign the consent form which made me laugh.

My query is how long does it usually take to get a definitive diagnosis / prognosis after the TURBT?

I know the sensible thing to do is not get anxious and only deal with things as they happen but I'm finding this quite difficult to do.

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    Hi druid61. Welcome to the forum.

    I had a TURBT on June 3rd this year, and I got the result on July 1st, exactly 4 weeks to the day. 

    They won't do a biopsy at the same time as the cystoscopy;  I think this is for fear of speading cancer cells.  Instead, all the removed tissue from the TURBT is sent to the path lab for examination.

    When the TURBT is done and while you're still unconscious, the surgeon will fit a catheter and instill a chemotherapy drug to kill off any cells that got left behind. This drug (which doesn't hurt) stays in place for around 30 minutes before it's drained off.  Depending upon your individual circumstances, the catheter may remain in place for a week after surgery, or may be immediately removed. 

    In my case, they found and removed a small pTa tumour, which is the lowest grade of cancer. Fingers crossed I won't need any more treatment.  I hope your result is equally encouraging. 

  • Offline in reply to telemando

    Thanks for taking the time to comment and for your information. Good luck yourself!

  • Offline in reply to druid61

    Good luck with the TURBT.  It's quick operation of around an hour or so. There was some pain peeing afterwards, but that was gone the next day.  I think if you have a catheter in place for a week everything will have settled down by the time it's removed. 

    I find after surgery that my salivary glands stop working for quite some time. However I discovered this time by accident that chewing on Rountrees Fruit Pastilles got them started again!  Might be worth taking some with you.

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