The link will take you to the Practice Guidelines released by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).
These are the practice guidelines that many urologists and oncologists use as their resource when treating bladder cancer.
It has flow charts of tests to perform and recommended treatment paths.
The flowchart I did is much simpler because it is intended to be a high level overview for patients to use in discussions with their doctor(s).
This link has all the nitty gritty details of things like staging and grading (multiple methods), most of the various tests, when to use radiology treatments, chemo treatments, immunotherapy, partial and radical cystectomy, recurrence probabilities for different types, grades, and stages, etc.
NCCN Practice Guidelines in Oncology Bladder Cancer
This is version 2 for the year 2010.
It requires registration but registration is free.
You may want to print this whole thing out and spend a good bit of time studying this if you've been diagnosed with bladder cancer and really want to know detail.
For some folks, knowledge is power. For others, knowledge just makes them wind up getting either completely freaked out and/or wind up getting every symptom they ever read. If you are the former, this is a pretty nice study guide and study away. After all, it is likely a major contributor to your urolgist's knowledge and recommended treatment path. If you are the latter, give it a miss.
Mike
