Ann,
I forgot to define TURBT for you. Sorry about that.
TURBT is an acronym for transurethral resection of bladder tumor. This is a surgical procedure that patients with a bladder tumor may undergo. The surgeon may take a biopsy, or a sample of tissue, from the tumor, or he may completely remove it. As part of the surgery and in the case of cancer, he may also burn away any remaining cancer cells in a process called fulguration.
In most cases, you can use Google to look up acronyms and words we use here.
Some very common ones are:
Cysto = Cystoscopic exam, a look inside the bladder, through the urethra, with a cystoscope.
Uro = urologist
RC = Radical Cystectomy (for men, the prostate is also removed; for women, ovaries, uterus, and part of the vagina are typically removed)
T0, T1, T2, T3, T4: Stages of bladder cancer. T0 is just the surface layer, and the higher the number the deeper into (or through) the bladder the cancer has grown.
G1, G2, G3, Low grade/High grade: indicators of how aggressive (or not) the cancer is.
neo = neobladder (a type of urinary diversion where the bladder is removed and replaced with a newly constructed bladder made from a segment of intestine). The new (neo) bladder is hooked up to the original plumbing.
IP = Indiana Pouch, another uringary diversion but rather than connecting to original plumbing, the internal pouch is attached to a stoma that it often routed/hidden at the navel.
IC = Ileal conduit, rather than create a new bladder, the ureters are connected to a stoma (typically toward the side of the body) where a bag is attached to collect the urine output.
BLC = Bladder Cancer (It seems that people always think BC stands for Breast Cancer, so we've opted to go with BLC for the most part but some of us still use BC and then we get all sorts of private messages telling us we messed up.
)
BCG: An immunotherapy agent of live tuberculosis vaccine instilled into the bladder to create an immune response where the bladder then kills cancer cells. Highly effective for CIS (Carcinoma In Situ).
Your husband is too soon into this to be worrying about RC and diversions yet.
The majority of the time it is low grade and superficial (just the surface layer). Non-invasive is probably a better word than superficial because sometimes people interpret superficial to mean trivial and that's a bad interpretation.
If it is low grade/ T0, then treatment is often to just remove the tumor and keep an eye on it (watchful waiting). A cysto every 3 months for a couple of years, then every 6 months for a few years, then every year....
Sometimes, low grade/T0 is treated with BCG treatments or mitomycin (a chemotherapy agent that is instilled into the bladder). If you look up this drug, don't freak out about side effects because they are the ones listed for when mitomycin is being put in the vein. When put in the bladder it does not get into the blood stream so it typically only causes irritation of the bladder.
Feel free to have your husband join in this site as well. He can ask anything he wants. Nothing is too personal here and the only dumb question is the one not asked.
Mike