Cancer Services

Stages of Cancer

Cancer is a multifaceted disease requiring various treatments. Cancer treatment decisions are made after an assessment of the tumor has been completed.

Assessments are made through the use of diagnostic imaging (e.g., PET/CT, MRI, bone scan), biopsies and other testing procedures. Based on these assessments, most cancers are classified into a staging group.

The simplest of groups include four categories of stage: in situ, local, regional and distant.

In situ disease simply means the disease is “in place” and is noninvasive.

Localized cancer indicates that the malignancy is limited to the organ of origin or primary site.

Regional disease is the broadest category and indicates that the disease has moved outside the organ of origin but has not spread to distant sites. Usual regional sites include lymph nodes or tissues surrounding the organ of origin.

The last staging category is distant. This is also referred to as metastatic disease. Distant disease means the tumor has left the organ of origin and traveled to a second site not continuous with the primary site.

Physicians also use a staging system from the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). This staging methodology is also referred to as the TNM staging system because it is based on the size of the Tumor, Lymph Node involvement and Metastasis (spread of the disease to distant sites).