Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Request an Appointment

Stages

Stage and grade mean different things. Grade describes how the cancer cells look and how they may act. Stage describes how deeply the tumor has grown into the bladder lining. Both help guide treatment.

NMIBC includes stages 0a, 0is and 1. In these stages, the cancer has not grown into the bladder muscle.

  • Stage 0a, noninvasive papillary cancer, also called Ta. The tumor has stayed in the bladder lining.
  • Stage 0is, carcinoma in situ (CIS), also called Tis. CIS is a flat, high-grade cancer in the bladder lining.
  • Stage 1, T1 bladder cancer. The cancer has grown into tissue under the bladder lining but has not reached the muscle layer.
Request an appointment
Diagnosis & treatmentSurvival rates
Sept. 10, 2026
  1. Flaig TW, et al. Bladder cancer, version 1.2026, NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. 2026; doi:10.6004/jnccn.2026.0022.
  2. Holzbeierlein JM, et al. Diagnosis and treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer: AUA/SUO guideline: 2024 amendment. Journal of Urology. 2024; doi:10.1097/JU.0000000000003846.
  3. Bladder cancer stages. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/stages. Accessed Aug. 27, 2026.
  4. Bladder cancer diagnosis. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/diagnosis. Accessed Aug. 27, 2026.
  5. Treatment of bladder cancer by stage. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/treatment/by-stage. Accessed Aug. 27, 2026.
  6. Bladder cancer — Cancer stat facts. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/urinb.html. Accessed Aug. 27, 2026.
  7. Narayan VM, et al. Efficacy of intravesical nadofaragene firadenovec for patients with bacillus Calmette-Guérin-unresponsive nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer: 5-year follow-up from a phase 3 trial. Journal of Urology. 2024; doi:10.1097/JU.0000000000004020.
  8. Necchi A, et al. Pembrolizumab monotherapy for high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer without carcinoma in situ and unresponsive to BCG (KEYNOTE-057): A single-arm, multicentre, phase 2 trial. The Lancet Oncology. 2024; doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(24)00178-5.
  9. Guerrero-Ramos F, et al. Predicting recurrence and progression in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: Systematic review on the performance of risk stratification models. Bladder Cancer. 2022; doi:10.3233/BLC-220055.
  10. EAU guidelines on non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (TaT1 and CIS). European Association of Urology. https://uroweb.org/guidelines/non-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer. Accessed Aug. 27, 2026.
  11. Bladder cancer treatment (PDQ) — Health professional version. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/hp/bladder-treatment-pdq. Accessed Aug. 12, 2026.
  12. Bladder cancer prognosis and survival rates. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/survival. Accessed Aug. 12, 2026.

Related

Associated Procedures

Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer