# Transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/turbt/  
OnCo record `turbt` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Shaving a bladder tumour away from the inside using a scope passed up the urethra. It is both the diagnosis and, for non-muscle-invasive cancer, the treatment.

## Summary

TURBT establishes stage (whether the tumour has reached the muscle) and grade, and removes all visible non-muscle-invasive disease. A second resection within 6 weeks is recommended for high-grade T1 tumours because up to 30% are under-staged. It is followed by a single chemotherapy instillation or by induction and maintenance intravesical BCG for intermediate- and high-risk disease; blue-light cystoscopy and en-bloc resection improve completeness. Muscle-invasive disease needs cystectomy or trimodality therapy instead.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: transurethral resection; TURBT; re-resection; re-TURBT

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transurethral_resection_of_bladder_tumor
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transurethral_resection_of_bladder_tumor

## Connected records

- terms: [Intravesical therapy (BCG and bladder instillations)](https://onco.cc/terms/intravesical-therapy/), [Non-muscle-invasive vs muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC / MIBC)](https://onco.cc/terms/nmibc-vs-mibc/), [Radical cystectomy](https://onco.cc/terms/cystectomy/)
- cancers: [Bladder & urothelial cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/urothelial/)
- fronts: [Surgery & Interventional](https://onco.cc/fronts/surgery/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/turbt.json