What does 'stage 2 bladder cancer' mean?

What does 'stage 2 bladder cancer' mean?

Stage 2 bladder cancer is an invasive bladder cancer. It is muscle invasive. The designation 2 means that tumor cells are identified within the bladder muscle itself. It is subdivided into 2a or b, depending on the depth of invasion, but that is not so material for endoscopic or trans-urethral resection, because it is very hard to gage the depth of the penetration based on the scooping out, scraping or resecting of the tumor. But what the presence of Stage 2 tumor means is that that patient is destined to have aggressive disease, and needs to strongly consider cystectomy.