Hello,
I just got my pathology report back and it was a Papillary tumor Ta superficial but highly aggressive 2cm. I admit that I am relieved that it was Ta but the highly aggressive gives me some guarded optimism. My urologist plans on putting me on BCG treatments 2 weeks from the date of my Turbt. I did have the mitomycin wash immediately after they did the Turbt.
I guess my one question is that I asked him if he was planning on doing a second Turbt given the results of highly aggressive. (He had mentioned he might do a follow up Turbt depending on the results). He said he did not think it was needed because:
1) Because of the Ta stage (he said if it was T1 maybe and of course T2 or more, definitely to make sure he got all of it but he felt that Ta was a good reading.
2) he said he was pretty aggressive with his resection and resecting all the way to the muscle layer. He felt he had a good visual of the tumor while resecting and although he of course can't be 100% sure if he got it all, he felt that his aggressive cuts did not show tumor into the lining so he didn't think a 2nd turbt would be necessary.
I do trust my urologist and I can tell he knows that I want to be as aggressive as possible for treatments so I trust him but I just wanted to see if this is similar to others after having a Ta highly aggressive pathology report. Is it always the norm to have a 2nd turbt done before starting BCG treatment?
Also one question. My Dr. uses Mitocyn for 30 minutes then washes it out, I asked him about the BCG regiment and he said he just does 30 minutes and then has you urinate it out, but I see others on the board that doctors had them hold it in for 2-4 hours. I'm sure every doctor does it somewhat differently, but what is the general consensus for how long you leave the BCG in the bladder during treatment?
I know I'm just starting this journey but I'm so grateful for all the info that I've read so far on this forum.
Best,
John
