What You Need to Know
What is
cancer staging?
An important part of treating a patient’s cancer is to first find out how far it has spread—or what “stage” it has reached. Staging is a system that is used to classify the extent of cancer and to help you and your doctor decide what treatment is best for you. Usually, your doctor stages the cancer at the time of diagnosis and finds out the “clinical stage” of the disease. If you have an operation, a pathologist studies tissue the surgeon removed and assigns it a “pathologic stage.” In general, the pathologic stage is the most important one in making treatment decisions.What is the
TNM system?
Doctors throughout the world
use the tumor, lymph node,
and metastasis (TNM) system
for staging most cancers. The
American Joint Committee
on Cancer (AJCC) developedpppd-287
the TNM system and main-
半透明纸
tains and updates it. It is the
standard system for cancer
staging that physicians and
scientists use. The TNM
system serves as a “common
language” in cancer care.
The “T” in TNM relates to
tumor. It indicates tumor size,
extent, or penetration (depth) of
the tumor. The “N” stands for
node. It indicates the number of
lymph nodes with cancer or the
location of the cancer-involved
lymph nodes. The “M” stands
for distant metastasis, or spread超微电极
of the cancer to other parts of
the body. It indicates cancer
cells outside the local area of the
tumor and its surrounding
lymph nodes.
Different tumors may spread
to different parts of the body.
Clearly, it is important to test
whether the tumor has spread
to other organs. You may
have tests such as computed
tomography (CT scans),
magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI), or positron emission
tomography (PET scans).
After staging of the cancer,
you and your doctor can make
a treatment plan.
What are the
most common
staged cancers?
The most common cancers
that doctors stage using the
TNM system are breast,
colon and rectal, stomach,
esophagus, pancreas, and lung.
Other cancers staged with the
TNM system include soft
tissue sarcoma and melanoma.
Staging systems exist for 52
sites or types of cancer.
Some cancers are not staged
using the TNM system.
Cancers of the blood, bone
marrow, brain, and other sites
might not use the TNM
staging. Gynecologic cancers
use another staging system,
which doctors can translate
into TNM.
What does stage
grouping mean?
Once doctors have determined
the TNM categories, they can
place the cancer into a “stage
group.” Stage grouping uses
Roman numeral I, II, III, or
IV. The larger the number,
the more advanced the stage
of cancer is. If you will take
part in a clinical trial, the
stage group of the cancer first
must be known. It allows you
to be placed into the proper
treatment group. (A clinical
trial is a research study that is
conducted with the patient’s
permission to see how effective
and safe a new treatment is.)
What is the purpose
of a cancer registry?
After diagnosing a cancer, the
doctor passes the information
along to the hospital cancer
registry. The cancer stage also
is important in this process.
Your doctor enters this
designation into the cancer
registry to track your response
to treatment. A Certified
T umor Registrar (CTR) then
sends this information to
the state cancer registry. State
registries are supported by
either the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention or the
National Cancer Institute.
The information also goes to
the National Cancer Data Base硅片清洗 (NCDB), which is supported
by the American College of
Surgeons and the American
Cancer Society. All workers
with access to your personal
information closely protect it
to ensure your privacy. Thanks
to cancer staging, researchers
can study large groups of
patients and assess the outcomes
of various treatments so that溶角蛋白酶
cancer patients can be given
the best care for their individual
situation.
Resources
For more information,
visit these Web sites.
American Joint Committee
on Cancer
American Cancer Society
American Society of Clinical
Oncology’s People Living
with Cancer
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