How is staging determined for thyroid cancer?
If the diagnosis is thyroid cancer, the doctor needs to know the stage, or extent, of the disease to plan the best treatment. Staging is a careful attempt to learn whether the cancer has spread and, if so, to what parts of the body.
Staging is based on the results of the physical exam, biopsy, and imaging tests, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI, chest x-ray, and/or nuclear medicine scans.
The TNM method is the most universally used staging method and applies to both papillary and follicular thyroid cancers.
- T indicates the size of the main (primary) tumor and whether it has grown into nearby areas.
- N describes the extent of spread to nearby (regional) lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are small bean-shaped collections of immune system cells that are important in fighting infections. Cells from thyroid cancers can travel to lymph nodes in the neck and chest areas.
- M indicates whether the cancer has spread (metastasized) to other organs of the body. If there is distant metastases, M = 1, if the cancer has not spread outside of the neck region, M = 0.
Based on these three categories, the cancer is assigned a Stage of 1, 2, 3 or 4. Stage 1 is the least advanced form of cancer with the best prognosis, and Stage 4 is the most advanced category.
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Categories: Cancer, causes, cure, growth, health, Stages, Thyroid, Treatment Tags: Cancer, causes, Cells, cure, Diagnosis, Gland, Goitre, growth, Iodine, neck, Stages, Staging, Thyroid, Thyroid cancer, Thyroid gland, Tissues, Treatment, Types
Staging for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
Because leukemia starts in the bone marrow and often has spread to other organs by the time it is detected, there is no need for traditional staging. All leukemias are classified according to their genotypes, or their unique chromosomal arrangements, which also enables the physicians to determine risk factors.
Staging for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
CML is divided into 3 groups that help predict outlook. Doctors call these groups phases instead of stages. The phases are based mainly on the number of immature white blood cells – myeloblasts (“blasts”) — that are seen in the blood or bone marrow.
Chronic Phase
- Patients in this phase typically have less than 10% blasts in their blood or bone marrow samples.
- These patients usually have fairly mild symptoms (if any) and usually respond to standard treatments.
Accelerated Phase
Patients are considered to be in accelerated phase if any of the following are true:
- The bone marrow or blood samples have more than 10% but fewer that 20% blasts.
- High blood basophil count (basophils making up at least 20% of the white blood cells).
- Increased white blood cell counts that do not go down with treatment
very high or very low platelet counts that are not caused by treatment
new chromosome changes in the leukemia cells.
Blast Phase
- Bone marrow and/or blood samples from a patient in this phase have more than 20% blasts.
- The blast cells often spread to tissues and organs beyond the bone marrow. These patients often have fever, poor appetite, and weight loss.
Categories: Cancer, causes, Diagnosis, growth, health, Leukemia, Malignancy Tags: Accelerated, Blast, Blood, Bone marrow, causes, Cells, Chronic, Chronic myelogenous leukemia, CML, Leukemia, Phases, Stages, Staging, Tissues, White blood cells