What Does Cancer Stage Mean?
- The stage tells us how far the cancer has spread.
- Cancers are staged from 0 to IV, based on whether and where they’ve spread.
- Stage 0 to II cancers haven’t spread from the organ where they started.
- Stage IV cancers are metastatic, meaning they’ve spread to other parts of the body.
SurvivorNet looks at what cancer stages mean, and how they could influence your treatment journey.
How Do Cancer Stages Work?
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How Many Cancer Stages Are There?
For most cancers, the answer is four actually, five.
Stage 0 means the cancer is still in the place where it started, and it hasn't spread. Your doctor might call it 'in situ,' which is just a fancy Latin term that means, "in place." Often these cancers are very curable with surgery to remove the tumor.
Stage I cancers are still small, and they haven't spread outside of the area where they started. This is still an early-stage cancer, with a good chance for a cure.
Stage II cancers have grown, but they're still inside the organ or tissues where they started.
Stage III are larger cancers. They may have spread to nearby tissues, or to lymph nodes bean-shaped structures that are all over your body. The lymph nodes are an entry route from which cancer can spread to other parts of your body.
Stage IV cancers have spread to other parts of your body. Your doctor will use terms like "advanced" or "metastatic" to describe this stage. At stage IV, the cancer may not be curable, but it should still be treatable.
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How Are Cancer Stages Determined?
When your doctor first suspected you had cancer, you probably had a series of tests. You might have had imaging tests like x-rays, MRIs, or PET scans. Or, you could have had blood tests. Your doctor might have removed a small piece of the suspicious area (called a biopsy). All of those tests determine the cancer's "clinical stage."
Now, if you had surgery for example, for ovarian cancer your doctor learned more specifics about your cancer during the procedure. That's known as your "pathological stage."
Related: How Do I Know the Stage of My Ovarian Cancer? Staging Surgery Determines Spread
The information your doctor gleans from tests and/or surgery go into a calculation to determine the stage. The staging system for cancer goes by three letters: T-N-M.
T stands for "tumor." It describes the size of the tumor, where it is, and if it has grown into nearby tissues.
N stands for "node." It indicates the number of lymph nodes to which the cancer has spread.
M stands for "metastasis." That's how far the cancer has spread.
What Does the Cancer Grade Mean?
A cancer’s grade goes hand-in-hand with its stage. The grade describes how your cancer is likely to act. It's based on how closely your cancer cells resemble healthy cells under a microscope.
The higher the grade, the more different the cells look, and the faster they're likely to spread. By looking at both the stage and grade, your doctor can pinpoint a treatment and predict how likely you are to recover.
Related: How Gleason Grade Determines Treatment
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Can Cancer Stages Change?
No. Your cancer stage won't change. If your cancer spreads or comes back after treatment, or if your treatment is working, your doctor might "restage" your cancer using the same or different tests than you had the first time. After that, you'll get a new stage, along with a small letter 'r' to show that your cancer has been restaged. This doesn't happen often, but it can happen.
If you're cured which is the ultimate goal your doctor won't tick you down from stage III to II to I to cured. Instead, you'll be declared cancer-free after tests show no evidence of any remaining cancer cells in your body.
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