Stages of Cancer
What is cancer “staging”?
When cancer is first diagnosed, your physician will carry out tests to investigate the extent of the cancer and to see whether it has spread to another part of the body from where it started. Staging is a way of recording the size and growth of a tumor.
Why staging is important?
Staging is used to determine the type of treatment you will need such as radiation, chemotherapy and/or surgery. There are staging systems designated for most forms of cancer. Classifying a cancer’s stage enables doctors to have a common language to describe tumors. In addition, treatment results can be compared between tumors and guidelines for treatment can be standardized between different treatment centers.
What are the stages of cancer?
In general, there are four stages of cancer. However, the “staging diagnosis” depends on the type of cancer and the staging system the doctor is using. There are different ways of grouping cancers. Some staging systems have more groups and some less.
Stages are most often clarified by roman numerals and may be broken down further by alphabet characters. The following is a basic breakdown of how a cancer is staged:
- Stage 1 – The cancer is relatively small and contained within the organ it started in.
- Stage 2 - The cancer is localized, but the tumor is larger than in Stage 1. Stage 2 indicates that there are lymph nodes close to the original site that have cancer cells.
- Stage 3 - The cancer is larger and there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes in the area.
- Stage 4 - The cancer has spread (metastasized ) from where it started to another body organ, such as the liver, bones or lungs.
It is important to remember that while certain generalities can be taken from these stages, each individual and each cancer are in many respects, unique. Your physician will provide you with an accurate cancer diagnosis and stage.
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