Sunday, July 5, 2009

Cancer Stages Tips & Guide

By Anne Durrell

When cancer is diagnosed, the doctor will go through steps to figure out the stage of the cancer.

Cancer stages are used to help doctors form a treatment plan and to help patients understand the extent of their cancer and the prognosis.

It is actually not that difficult to understand staging cancer, even it may seem confusing.

Essential Staging

A process called staging will determine cancer stages and the severity of the cancer.

It is based on the extent of how much the cancer has spread in the body.

Doctors will usually perform another tests to check the body for cancer as well as to get an idea where the cancer is, where the cancer began and if the cancer spreading.

Importance of Staging

It is an important part of the process in determining how to treat the cancer.

It is also useful for future research and understanding how that particular cancer reacts in the body.

Here are the reasons why staging is truly important:

* It helps doctor to form a treatment plan

* Staging helps in forming a prognosis

* Helpful in research studies

Components of Staging

Staging is done by examining at different factors.

When determining cancer stages in order to help maintain a level of consistency for staging, there are certain elements that must be included. These elements are:

* Finding a location of where the cancer began

* Number and size of tumors

* Cancer location in the lymph nodes

* Tumor grade and Cell type.

* Amount of metastasis

Usually, cancer stages are based upon 5 stages chart, and here is how the stage looks:

Stage 0: Only early or pre-cancerous cells are present

Stage 1, 2 and 3: Cancer is present and may have spread in the localized area

Stage 4: Cancer has spread elsewhere in the body

It is not easy to understand cancer stages, but it is essential. Someone receiving a diagnosis of stage 1 cancer will know that the cancer is much easier to treat and the prognosis will likely be good.

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