Cancer : Detailed Guide

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Cancer Staging

Staging is the process of finding out how far the cancer has spread. Staging the cancer is a vital step in determining your treatment choices, and it will also give your health care team a clearer idea of the outlook for recovery.

Staging can take time, and people are usually anxious to begin treatment soon. Do not worry that the staging process is taking up treatment time. Keep in mind that by staging the cancer, you and your health care team will know which treatments are likely to be the most effective before beginning the treatment.

There is more than one system for staging. The TNM system is the one used most often. It gives three key pieces of information:

T describes the size of the tumor, and whether the cancer has spread to nearby tissues and organs.
N describes how far the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
M shows whether the cancer has spread (metastasized) to other organs of the body.

Letters or numbers after the T, N, and M give more details about each of these factors. For example, a tumor classified as T1, N0, M0 is a tumor that is very small, has not spread to the lymph nodes, and has not spread to distant organs of the body. Once the TNM descriptions have been established, they can be grouped together into a simpler set of stages, stages 0 through stage IV (0-4).

In general, the lower the number, the less the cancer has spread. A higher number, such as stage IV (4), means a more serious, widespread cancer.

After looking at your test results, your doctor will tell you the stage of your cancer. Be sure to ask your doctor any questions you might have about what the stage of your cancer means and how it will impact your treatment options.

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