{"id":17114,"date":"2021-02-17T11:14:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T11:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opa.org.uk\/sample-page\/this-is-exactly-what-the-4-stages-of-cancer-really-mean\/"},"modified":"2021-03-18T16:35:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T16:35:54","slug":"this-is-exactly-what-the-4-stages-of-cancer-really-mean","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/opa-old.voidappsdev.uk\/?page_id=17114","title":{"rendered":"This Is Exactly What the 4 Stages of Cancer Really Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Is Exactly What the 4 Stages of Cancer Really Mean<\/h1>\n

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with cancer, chances are you’ve been told that they’re at a certain stage of the disease.\"\"<\/p>\n

“The main purpose for staging is to evaluate the extent of cancer spread,” and determine a patient’s prognosis, says Ali Mahdavi<\/a>, MD, a gynecologic oncologist and the Medical Director, Specialty Care Ascension Medical Group, OB\/GYN Clinic at Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In other words, it gives the doctor information on how the disease is likely to progress over time, what symptoms to expect, what the survival rate is, and what some of the potential complications could be. Generally speaking, the earlier the stage of the cancer, the better the prognosis.<\/p>\n

Staging also dictates treatment options. For instance, if an early-stage cancer is located in one particular area, it may be easier to remove surgically or treat with radiation as opposed to a late-stage cancer that has spread to other areas of the body and may require chemotherapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The most common cancer staging system: TNM<\/span><\/h2>\n

The most widely used cancer staging system is called the TNM classification system<\/a>. This system assigns letters and numbers to the cancer to describe the tumor (T), the lymph nodes (N), and how much the cancer has metastasized (M). These individual evaluations help determine the overall stage of the cancer.<\/p>\n

Tumor<\/h4>\n

The T category in TNM provides information about the tumor, like its size, how much it has grown into the organ it originated from, and whether it has spread to other tissues.<\/p>\n