Cancer staging is a way to describe how serious the disease is.
Youroncologist, a doctor who specializes in cancer, decides how to treat the disease based on its stage.
In this article, youll learn what helps define each stage and what staging means in terms of prognosis.
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Its based on the TNM system, in which each letter refers to specific aspects of melanoma.
It also indicates if the tumor has ulcerated, or broken through to the skin beneath it.
The T will be followed by a number that corresponds to a specific size and thickness.
Get our printable guide for your next doctor’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
After that, there is usually a letter to indicate if the tumor has ulcerated.
N Is for Node
The N refers tolymph nodes.
A melanoma that doesnt involve the lymph nodes will be labeled as N0.
What Are Lymph Nodes?
Lymph nodes are small structures that filter substances and help fight infection.
They are part of a online grid that runs throughout the body.
Whether or not a melanoma spreads to one or more lymph nodes, it also may affect nearby skin.
Such melanoma tumors are called satellite tumors.
Melanoma tumors also may spread to lymphatic channels, thin tubes that resemble blood capillaries, through whichlymphfluid flows.
This can mean the cancer is advanced and may be hard to treat.
The organs melanoma most often spreads to are the lungs, liver, brain, and bones.
A letter (a to c) after M1 indicates which organs or systems are affected by the metastasis.
It may be labeled as stage 0 orTis.
Melanoma in situ almost always can be cured.
Stage 1
Melanomas in this early stage have not spread to other parts of the body.
They are staged based on size, thickness, and whether they have ulcerated.
It may or may not have ulcerated.
The tumor has not metastasized to other parts of the body.
Stage 3A
The tumor is less than 2 mm in thickness and may or may not be ulcerated.
It has not metastasized to other parts of the body.
Its the only stage in which cancer cells have spread to one or more distant body parts.
Within each of the five stages of melanoma there are lots of substages.
Higher numbers within each stage corresponds to more extensive cancer.
Your underlying health may play a role too.
That said, most experts talk about melanoma outcomes in terms of five-year survival rate.
What Is a Five-Year Survival Rate?
Survival statistics from the SEER database are not based on AJCC melanoma staging.
Summary
Healthcare providers use the TNM staging system to define the severity of a case of melanoma.
Knowing this allows them to figure out the best way to treat the disease.
The five stages of melanoma are based on this information.
The earliest, stage 0, is highly curable.
The most advanced, stage 4, tends to be challenging to treat.
Five-year survival rates for melanoma are based on whether the cancer has spread and to what degree.
Get our printable guide for your next doctor’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
American Cancer Society.Treatment of melanoma skin cancer, by stage.
American Cancer Society.Melanoma skin cancer stages.
National Cancer Institute.Cancer stat facts: melanoma of the skin.
