Bladder cancer statistics and outlook

On this page there is quite detailed information about the survival rates for different stages of bladder cancer. We have included it because people ask us for this. But not everyone who is diagnosed with a cancer wants to read this type of information. If you are not sure whether you want to know at the moment, you might like to skip this page for now. You can always come back to it.

Please note that there are no national UK statistics available for different stages of cancer or treatments that people may have had. The statistics we present here are pulled together from a variety of different sources, including the opinions and experience of the experts who check each section of this website. We provide statistics because people ask us for them. But they are only intended as a general guide and cannot be used to predict what will happen in your individual case.

There is a section explaining more about cancer statistics and also about incidence, mortality and survival. Unless you are very familiar with medical statistics, it might help to read this before you read the statistics below.

Remember that 5 year survival and 10 year survival are terms that doctors use. This doesn't mean you will only live 5 or 10 years. 10 year survival relates to the number of people in research who were still alive 10 years after diagnosis. Doctors follow what happens to people for 5 years or more after treatment in bladder cancer research studies. So they use the term 5 year survival.

As with many other types of cancer, the outcome of bladder cancer depends on how advanced it is when it is diagnosed. In other words, the stage of your cancer. So we have divided the statistics below into sections on early, invasive and advanced bladder cancer.

The grade of the cancer can also be important. Generally speaking, doctors divide cancers into 3 groups, depending on what the cells look like. The groups are low, medium (or moderate) and high grade. Or grades 1, 2, or 3, where G1 is low grade. High grade cancer cells look the most abnormal and are most likely to grow quickly and spread. There is information about bladder cancer grade in this section.

Of all the people diagnosed with bladder cancer in England and Wales, 57 out of every 100 men (57%) live for at least 5 years after they are diagnosed. 47 out of every 100 women (47%) live for at least 5 years. The difference between survival in men and women is thought to be due to the slightly different structure of the bladder. These statistics are relative survival figures. This means that they don't include people who have died from other causes. Cancer statistics are often worked out this way because it gives a more accurate picture of the survival rate of the cancer. Many people with cancer are older and may not die from their cancer, but from other illnesses, such as heart disease.

Most bladder cancers are diagnosed while they are still only in the bladder lining. Between 80 to 90 out of every 100 people (80 to 90%) with this stage of bladder cancer live for more than 5 years.

About 7 out of 10 (70%) bladder cancers are of this early type when they are diagnosed. Early bladder cancers are called Ta or T1 bladder cancer or carcinoma in situ. Carcinoma in situ is also called CIS or Tis and can sometimes come back.

These early bladder cancers can often be cured or controlled with minor surgery or treatment into the bladder. The low grade (grade 1) early bladder tumours are more likely to be cured. Moderate or high grade (grades 2 or 3) early bladder tumours or CIS are more likely to come back and need further treatment.

Taking all superficial bladder tumours together, about 50 to 70 out of every 100 (50 to 70%) will come back. But most of these will come back as early, non invasive bladder cancer. About 10 to 30 out of every 100 early bladder cancers (10 to 30%) will come back as cancer that has spread into the deeper layers of the bladder.

Most Ta tumours are low grade. About 5 out of 10 stage Ta early bladder cancers (50%) will come back after treatment. But most come back as superficial tumours that can be removed with surgery again. Fewer than 1 in 10 (10%) will come back as an invasive cancer that needs more intensive treatment.

Most T1 early bladder cancers are higher grade. These are more likely to go on to develop into an invasive cancer. As many as half (50%) will develop into invasive cancer if they aren't treated. For this reason, you are more likely to have further treatment into your bladder after having this type of bladder cancer removed.

About 3 in 10 bladder cancers (30%) have grown into the muscle layer of the bladder when they are diagnosed. These are called invasive bladder cancers. About 1 in 2 people (50%) diagnosed with T2 invasive bladder cancer are alive and well 3 years after their diagnosis. 

Unfortunately, treatment is less successful for tumours that have grown deeper into the bladder wall. About 1 in 4 people (25%) with a T3 tumour will be alive and well 3 years after diagnosis and treatment.

In the UK, specialists use either surgery to remove the bladder or radiotherapy. The treatments generally work equally well. The choice often depends on what you prefer and what your specialist recommends.

Surgery or radiotherapy will cure some of these cancers. But in some people the cancer will come back and need more treatment. Doctors cannot usually tell which cancers are likely to come back and which are likely to be cured. One of the most important factors is how far the cancer has grown into the wall of the bladder. For instance, a stage T3 or T4 cancer is more likely to come back than a stage T2 cancer. If the cancer has spread into the lymph glands, the risk of it coming back is much higher.

To try to reduce the chance of the cancer coming back, you are likely to have chemotherapy into your vein, as well as surgery or radiotherapy. In several large clinical trials chemotherapy before surgery lowered the risk of recurrence for high risk invasive bladder cancers and stopped some cancers coming back. Clinical trials in the UK are continuing to look into adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy for bladder cancer.

Metastatic bladder cancer is bladder cancer that has spread to another part of the body. About 1 in 20 bladder cancers (5%) have already spread by the time they are diagnosed. The outlook is not as good as for earlier stages of bladder cancer. If the bladder cancer has spread to the lymph nodes close to the bladder, and the nodes are removed during surgery, about 3 out of 10 people will live longer than 5 years. If the cancer has spread to lymph nodes in other parts of the body, between 10 and 15% of people will live longer than 5 years.

Unfortunately, your cancer is not likely to be curable if it has spread to another body organ, such as your lungs, liver or bones. But you can still have chemotherapy and other treatments to try to keep it under control for a while and to help control any symptoms you may have. Once a cancer has spread in this way, the average time that people live is between a year and 18 months. But it is important to remember that this is an average and many people will live longer than that.

No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique. So statistics can only give a rough idea of what may happen to you. The available statistics are not detailed enough to tell you about the different treatments people may have had and how that treatment may have affected their outlook. Some treatments may help people to live longer as well as relieving symptoms. There are many individual factors that will affect your treatment and prognosis.

Taking part in clinical trials can help to improve the outlook for people in the future. There is information about clinical trials in the trials and research section.