Presentation 4 - Cancer Staging

Staging is a common language developed by medical professionals to communicate information about cancer to others. It describes the severity of an individual’s cancer based on the extent at the original tumor (the “site”), and how far the cancer has spread. Two staging systems are discussed in this presentation: SEER Summary Stage and AJCC TNM Stage.

Cancer staging is important for several reasons. It helps medical professionals adequately assess the extent of cancer and determine the most appropriate treatment to cure the disease, decrease the tumor burden, or relieve symptoms. Staging is also used to estimate the prognosis for individual patients.

Learning Objectives:

• Define cancer staging
• Discuss the purpose of staging
• Identify staging sources
• Review major staging systems