Colon Cancer Staging
Primary tumor
- Tis
Carcinoma in situ
- T1
Tumor invades submucosa
- T2
Tumor invades muscularis propria
- T3
Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the subserosa or into the non-peritoneal pericolic or perirectal tissues
- T4
Tumor perforates the visceral peritoneum or directly invades other organs
Regional node involvement
- N0
No regional node involvement
- N1
Metastasis in one to three pericolic or perirectal lymph nodes
- N2
Metastasis in four or more pericolic or perirectal lymph nodes
Presence of metastasis
- M0
No distant metastasis
- M1
Distant metastasis present
Staging groups
- Stage I
- T1N0M0 (Stage A in Duke's classification)
- T2N0M0 (Stage B1 in Duke's classification)
- Stage IIA
- T3N0M0 (Stage B2 in Duke's classification)
- Stage IIB
- T4N0M0 (Stage B3 in Duke's classification)
- Stage IIIA
- T1-2N1M0 (Stage C3 in Duke's classification)
- Stage IIIB
- T3-4N1M0 (Stage C2-3 in Duke's classification)
- Stage IIIC
- Any T, N2M0 (Stage C1-3 in Duke's classification)
- Stage IV
- Any T, Any N, M1 (Stage D in Duke's classification)
Overall prognosis of colorectal cancer is related to the stage at which the diagnosis was made. Earlier stages (stage 0, stage I, and stage II) of colorectal cancers have much better prognosis compared to later stages (stage III and stage IV). Stage III represents a borderline in terms of potential curability of the disease. Patients who have stage IIIA and earlier stages of colorectal cancer have a reasonable chance of curing the diseases where as patients who have stage IIIB and higher stages have much lower chance of getting rid of the disease. Pathological staging which is obtainable after surgical resection and pathological examination of the specimen is a much better predictor of prognosis than clinical staging that may be done prior to surgical removal of the tumor.
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