Staging in Mesothelioma
Staging is important, but what does it mean? The process of staging describes the disease’s status at a specific moment in time. An evaluation of the stage of cancer involves assessing the characteristics of the tumor (T), whether cancer has spread to lymph nodes (N), as well as metastasis, which is the spread of cancer to other parts of the body (M).
As well as giving the physician an idea of the prognosis of a patient, staging is critical for helping them choose the appropriate treatment plan. Due to the diffuse nature of mesothelioma, standardizing a global staging system is difficult, since there are very few cases on which to base it.
There are staging systems developed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG). Despite their similarities, the two are slightly different. It does not matter which system is used as long as the results for T, N, and M components are reported consistently and accurately.
In fact, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) will be revising the staging system in 2009 or 2010 with help from worldwide institutions that treat mesothelioma patients. The staging system for mesothelioma consists of four stages as with many other kinds of cancer.
A person with cancer in Stage 1 has a very good prognosis, whereas a person with cancer in Stage 4 has the worst prognosis. The prognosis is the worst at this stage. T, N, and M stages are further subdivided according to the staging system. Cancer is classified into T stages based on their size and whether they are associated with nearby critical structures.
A lymph node examination is conducted during the N stage in order to determine whether cancer has spread to other lymph nodes inside or outside the lungs. Cancer that has metastasized (spread to other parts of the body) is considered to be in the M stage.
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