What does carcinoma in situ or CIS mean?
CIS stands for carcinoma in situ. In most cancers, cervical cancer for instance, it’s thought to be a pre-malignant stage. In other words, it is just before the tumor becomes frankly malignant. In bladder cancer, CIS is a little bit of a misnomer. Although there’s often no visible growth at systoscopic examination, other than an area of perhaps some slight reddening, or some slight swelling or edema, or a mossy kind of a look to that area, the individual cells in carcinoma in situ of the bladder are much more aggressive cytologically than low-grade bladder cancer. Carcinoma in situ is a unique cancer in bladder cancer, and it doesn’t fit the normal staging. Patients who have carcinoma in situ don’t do very well with surgery alone, because it’s virtually impossible to distinguish the area where this tumor is involved from the adjacent normal area. There’s no clear-cut growth to remove, so the mainstay of therapy right now for carcinoma in situ is surgical resection or cauterization of a
