Oral Cancer Stages - OmniMedicalSearch.com

Conditions & Diseases: Cancers

Oral Cancer

Stages

Oral Cancer Stages

An important prognostic predictor for oral cancer is the clinicopathologic stage. A clinicopathologic stage describes the cancer developmental phase, and is established according to several criteria: (1) the tumor size, (2) the cancer location, and (3) the cancer extent (how far it has spread).

The most common staging system used for oral cancer is the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM system. The TNM system refers to: (T) the tumor features -size and invasion level; (N) the lymph nodes involved - lymph nodes are part of the body immune system; (M) the cancer metastasis - metastasis stage is the last developmental cancer stage when the cancer has spread to distal organs (organs situated far from the origin point).

T stage for oral cancer

T0: No primary tumor is present.

Tis: Carcinoma in situ (the cancer is confined to the tissue where it developed)

T1: The tumor is 2 cm or less.

T2: The tumor is 4 cm or less.

T3: The tumor is larger than 4 cm.

T4: The tumor is larger than 4 cm, and it has deeply invaded the muscle, bone, or other adjacent structures.

N stage for oral cancer

N0: No lymphatic nodes are affected.

N1: The cancer has affected one homolateral lymphatic node, but its size is smaller than 3 cm.

N2: The cancer is present in one or more homolateral lymphatic nodes, but their size is smaller than 6 cm.

N3: The cancer is present in few homolateral or bilateral lymphatic nodes, having a size bigger than 6 cm.

M stage for oral cancer

M0: No metastasis are present.

M1: The cancer has spread to distal organs (organs located far from the origin point where the cancer had developed initially).

Based on the NTM system, the oral cancer is classified in four stages:

Stage I: (T1, N0, M0)
In this stage, the cancer is confined to tissue where it initially occurred, and the tumor is not larger than 2 cm.

Stage II: (T2, N0, M0)
In this stage, the tumor is no larger than 4 cm.

Stage III: This stage includes two substages:

Stage IIIA: (T3, N0, M0)
In this stage, the tumor is larger than 4 cm, but no lymphatic nodes or metastasis are present.

Stage IIIB: (T1, T2, T3, N1, M0)
In this stage, the tumor size is either less than 2 cm, under 4 cm, and 4 cm or over, but the cancer has affected one homolateral lymphatic node.

Stage IV: This stage includes three substages:

Stage IVA: (T4, N0, M0)
In this stage, the tumor is larger than 4 cm, and it has deeply invaded the muscle, bone, or other adjacent structures

Stage IVB: (Any T, N2 or N3, M0)
In this stage, the tumor can have several sizes (1) less then 2 cm, (2) less or more than 4 cm, (3) more than 4 cm but it has deeply invaded the muscle, bone, or other adjacent structures, or the cancer has spread to several homolateral or bilateral lymphatic nodes.

Stage IVC: (Any T, any N, any M)
In this stage, there are several situations which include the tumors having different sizes (between 2 and more than 4 cm), the cancer is present in the homolateral or bilateral lymphatic nodes and in other organs within the body.

Article by Alina Morrow, MS
Medical Writer
OmniMedicalSearch.com