Purpose of Staging in Cancer - Mesothelioma Article US
Contents
Understanding the stage of cancer.
Staging is a way to describe the size of cancer and how far it grows. When doctors first diagnose cancer, they conduct tests to check how big the cancer is and whether it has spread to the surrounding tissue. They also check to see if it has spread to other parts of the body.Cancer stages sometimes include cancer rates. This describes how similar cancer cells are to normal cells.
Staging Cancer Purpose:
Staging is important because it helps the doctor know which treatment you need. Your doctor may recommend local treatments, such as surgery or radiotherapy, if your cancer is only in one place. This can be enough to get rid of the cancer completely. Local care only treats the body area.But you may need circulating treatments throughout the body if your cancer has spread. This is called systemic treatment and includes:
chemotherapy
hormone therapy
targeted cancer drug
You can read more about different types of cancer.
Cancer spreads in the lymph nodes
Sometimes doctors are not sure whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body or not. So they look for cancer cells in lymph nodes near cancer.Cancer cells in this gland are a sign that cancer has begun to spread. This is often referred to as a positive lymph node. This means cells have separated from the original cancer and are trapped in the lymph nodes. But it is not always possible to find out if they have gone elsewhere.
Adjuvant treatment
Doctors usually recommend adjuvant treatment if you have cancer cells in the lymph nodes. This means having treatment in addition to the main treatment for the primary tumor. An example of this is chemotherapy mesothelioma after surgery.The goal of adjuvant treatment is to kill cancer cells that have been released from the primary tumor.
Type of staging system
There are 2 main types of staging systems for cancer. This is a TNM system and a Number System.This system means that:
doctors have the same language to describe the size and spread of cancer treatment outcomes can be compared accurately between research studies different hospitals and clinics have standard treatment guidelines Some blood cancers or lymphatic system cancers have their own staging system.
TNM staging system:
TNM stands for Tumor, Node, Metastasis.This system shows a measure of early cancer (primary tumor), whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, and whether it has spread to different parts of the body (metastasis). This system uses letters and numbers to describe cancer:
T refers to the size of the cancer and how far it spreads to nearby tissues - it can be 1, 2, 3 or 4, with 1 small and 4 large.
N refers to whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes - it can be between 0 (no lymph nodes containing cancer cells) and 3 (lots of lymph nodes that contain cancer cells).
M refers to whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body - it can be 0 or 1 The meaning of 0 (cancer has not spread) or 1 (cancer has spread).
So for example, a small cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes but not elsewhere in the body might be T2 N1 M0. Or a more advanced cancer that has spread might be T4 N3 M1.
Sometimes doctors use letters a, b or c to further divide the category. For example, stage M1a lung cancer is a cancer that has spread to other lungs. Stage M1b lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
The letter p is sometimes used before the TNM letter. For example, pT4. This stands for the pathological stage. This means that doctors base staging on examining cancer cells in the laboratory, after surgery to remove cancer.
Letter c is sometimes used before TNM letters. For example, cT2. This is a clinical stage. This means that the stage is based on what doctors know about cancer before surgery. Your doctor can see your test results and use clinical information from checking you.
Number staging system of Cancer
The number staging system usually uses the TNM system to divide cancer into several stages. Most types of cancer have 4 stages, amounting to 1 to 4. Often doctors write stages in Roman numerals. So you might see stage 4 written as stage IV.The following is a brief summary of what the stages mean for most types of cancer:
Stage 1 usually means that cancer is relatively small and is present in the organ that begins
Stage 2 usually means that the tumor is larger than stage 1, but the cancer has not begun to spread to the surrounding tissue. Sometimes stage 2 means cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes that are close to the tumor. This depends on certain types of cancer
Stage 3 usually means the cancer is bigger. It may have begun to spread to the surrounding tissue and there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes in the area
Stage 4 means that the cancer has spread from where it began to other organs. This is also called secondary or metastatic cancer
Sometimes doctors use letters A, B or C to further divide the number category. For example, stage 3B cervical cancer.
Carcinoma in situ
Carcinoma in situ is sometimes called stage 0 cancer or 'in situ neoplasma'. That means there is a group of abnormal cells in the body area. Cells can develop into cancer at some time in the future. Changes in cells are called dysplasia. Abnormal cell numbers are too small to form tumors.Some doctors and researchers refer to these precancerous cell changes as 'cancer change' or 'non-invasive cancer'. But many areas of carcinoma in situ will never develop into cancer. So some doctors feel that these terms are inaccurate and they don't use them.
Because these abnormal cell areas are still very small, they are usually not found unless they are somewhere that is easily recognizable, for example on the skin. Carcinoma in situ in internal organs is usually too small to appear on the scan. But the tests used in cancer screening programs can take carcinoma in situ in the breast or cervix (cervix).
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