How far has it spread?
Cancer staging is a way to describe the size of a cancer and how far it has spread. It helps doctors decide on the best treatment and predict how serious the condition might be.
Stage 1
Cells are programmed to grow, do a job, and die. A cell becomes cancerous when it ignores DNA programming rules. It becomes abnormal.
Stage 2
These abnormal cells replicate over and over and become a tumour. The tumour crowds out (bullies and kills) normal cells.
Stage 3
The tumour continues to grow and expand. It reaches your blood vessels and lymph nodes (kind of a superhighway to other organs)!
Stage 4
The cancer spreads to, and invades, other parts of your body. This primary cancer has now become a secondary cancer.
TNM Staging...
| TNM | Meaning |
|---|---|
| T: Tumour | This component describes the size and extent of the main tumor. The tumor is usually measured in centimeters, and the T category can range from T0 (no evidence of primary tumor) to T4 (large tumor with extensive invasion into nearby tissues). |
| N: Nodes | This component indicates whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. It ranges from N0 (no regional lymph node involvement) to N3 (cancer spread to numerous or distant lymph nodes). |
| M: Metastasis | This component describes whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body beyond the regional lymph nodes. M0 indicates no distant spread, while M1 indicates that metastasis has occurred. |
Breast cancer example:
- T2: The tumor is more than 2 cm but not more than 5 cm in greatest dimension.
- N1: Cancer has spread to 1–3 axillary lymph nodes, or to internal mammary nodes detected by sentinel lymph node biopsy.
- M0: No distant metastasis is found.