Don't let cancer staging scare you! Staging is a tool that allows doctors to make better decisions about treatment.

Many people start to panic when they hear about the staging of cancer, thinking that if it is in the mid-stage or advanced stages, there is no cure! The cancer staging system is designed to provide a better understanding of the location of the cancer in a person's body and the extent of cancer invasion, which is what doctors need to refer to when formulating treatment strategies and discussing with other healthcare professionals. Therefore, although there is a difference in staging, the prognosis varies depending on the type of cancer and the individual!

Doctors need to know how aggressive the cancer is and where the tumor is located in the body so they can choose the best treatment. For example, early stage cancers may be treated with surgery or radiation, while more advanced cancers may need to be treated with chemotherapy. Doctors use staging information when researching cancer treatments to ensure that the basis and expected outcomes are more closely aligned when healthcare professionals advise each other on different treatments.

When staging, the first step is to look at the size and location of the primary (main) tumor and whether it has invaded the surrounding area. Next, the lymph nodes near the tumor are examined because lymph nodes are a collection of immune cells, and many types of cancer tend to spread to nearby lymph nodes before reaching other parts of the body. When cancer breaks through the surrounding lymph nodes and spreads to parts of the body far away from the primary tumor, it is said to have metastasized.

In some cases, if the blood or imaging tests are not accurate, the physician will recommend tissue sampling to determine the pathological stage of the cancer (also known as surgical staging) by removing the main tumor or through the process of tissue sampling. If the cancer is found to have spread more than expected during surgery, the physician will revise the original information to provide more information for treatment planning and prognosis.

There are several staging systems for cancer, the most common being the TNM system. The American Cancer Society (AJCC) and the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) have designated the TNM classification system as the tool used by doctors to categorize different types of cancer, and it is updated on average every six to eight years. In the TNM system, each cancer is assigned a letter or number that describes the tumor, lymph nodes, and metastases, and the common meanings of the letters in the report are as follows:

T: stands for how y the size of the primary tumor has invaded an organ, and whether it has grown into nearby tissues. N: represents the node that indicates whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. M: stands for metastasis, which indicates whether the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body.

In some types of cancer, the T category describes the size of the main tumor, while in other types it may be a representation of how deep the tumor has grown in that organ. So T, N, and M values are not the only factors in determining the stage of staging; other factors to consider include:

Grade: For most cancers, grade measures how abnormal the cancer cells look under a microscope; cancers with more abnormal cells will grow faster and spread more easily.

Cell type: Some cancers will be made up of different types of cells; for example, esophageal cancers are primarily squamous cell carcinomas or adenocarcinomas, and squamous cell carcinomas are staged differently than adenocarcinomas.

Tumor location: For some cancers, the location of the tumor affects the prognosis and will be noted in the staging. For example, the stage of esophageal cancer is related to the location of the tumor, which varies from being located in the upper part of the esophagus, the middle part of the esophagus, or the lower third of the esophagus.

Tumor markers: Tumor markers are also used to determine the stage of the cancer, for example, the level of PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) is very important in prostate cancer.

Although most cancers are staged at an early stage, the cure rate is the highest, but it doesn't mean that mid-stage and late-stage cancers can't be cured, nowadays the medical technology has made the survival rate of 5 or even 10 years greatly improved, if you can cooperate with the doctor's treatment suggestions, you can usually get good treatment results. Cancer has gradually become a chronic disease that can be controlled, so don't give up just because you see the stage of cancer, no matter which stage of cancer it is, you still have to be brave to accept the treatment in order to have a chance to succeed in the fight against cancer!