When cancer is diagnosed, the doctor will go through steps to figure out the stage of the cancer.
Cancer stages are used to help patients understand the extent of their cancer and the prognosis.
It is actually not that difficult to understand staging cancer, even it may seem confusing.
Defining Staging
A process called staging will determine cancer stages and the severity of the cancer.
Cancer staging is based on the extent of how much the cancer has spread in the body.
Doctors will usually perform another tests to check the body for cancer as well as to get an idea where the cancer is, where the cancer began and if the cancer spreading.
Importance of Staging
How to treat the cancer is one of the most important parts of the process.
Staging process is also useful for future research as well as understanding how that cancer reacts in the body.
Here are the main reasons why staging is important:
* Helps form a treatment plan
* It helps doctors to form a prognosis
* Staging is helpful in research studies
Components of Staging
Staging is done by looking at different factors.
There are certain elements that are included when determining cancer stages in order to help maintain a level of consistency for staging. These staging elements include:
* Finding a location of where the cancer began
* Size and number of tumors
* Location of cancer in the lymph nodes
* Grade and cell type of tumors
* Amount of metastasis
In general, cancer stages are based upon a simple five-stage chart. Here is how that looks:
Stage Zero: Only pre-cancerous cells are present or early.
Stage 1, 2 and 3: Cancer is present and may have spread in the localized area
Stage Four: Cancer has spread everywhere in the body
It is not easy to understand cancer stages, but is actually very important. A person receiving a diagnosis of stage one cancer will know that the cancer is a lot easier to treat, and so their prognosis will be good.
Anne Durrel has written extensively on Lung Cancer . She comes from California. You may want to check out her other guide on signs of lung cancer tips, and lung cancer symptoms guide!
