Stages and Grades of Nose Cancer

Different Stages and Grades of Nose Cancer

When describing cancer, doctors use the words ‘Stage’ and ‘Grade’. ‘Stage’ essentially means how big the tumour has become and whether or not it has spread to other areas of the body, whereas ‘Grade’ refers to how abnormal the cells look when studied under a microscope.

The most common system used for deciding the stage of cancer development is called the TNM system, and within this system each cancer is assigned a letter or a number to describe:

T – the tumour (usually referring to the original or primary tumour)
N – the nodes; whether or not the cancer has spread to the nearby lymph nodes
M – metastasis; this word means the spreading of cancer through the body

The T section of the system is concerned with the original, or primary cancerous tumour. The number or letter that follows the T describes elements such as the size of the tumour, how deeply it has grown within the organ upon which it started, and how much it has grown into nearby tissues. The severity or danger of the cancer generally increases as the numbers increase; so T1 is not as threatening as T4.

Lymph nodes contain the white blood cells that the body uses to fight off infection and illness, and are one of the first place that cancer spreads to as it develops. The N category within the system describes the size, location and the number of lymph nodes that have been affected by the cancer. Similarly to the T section, the higher the number allocated to N, the greater the risk.

When cancer cells spread through the body the word used by doctors to describe this is metastasis, and the M section of the system describes how far the cancer has spread. M0 suggests that the cancer has not spread, whereas M1 would suggest that it has spread to other areas of the body.

Once these values are determined, they are often combined to assign an overall stage. Different types of cancers have different ways of being measured, but in most cases the stage is referred to as a Roman numeral from I to IV, with IV being the most dangerous.

When it comes to ‘Grading’ the cancer, this is decided by investigating how the cancerous cells appear when studied under a microscope. If a cancer is given a low grading it means that the cells do not look massively different from normal cells and in most cases this suggests that the cancer will grow slowly. When a high grade is allocated, it suggests that the cancer cells look very different to normal, healthy cells, and are likely to grow more quickly and have a worse outlook for the sufferer.

Contact us today for free, no obligation advice regarding your Nose Cancer claim – either by calling us free on 0800 122 3130, or by requesting a free call back, whereby one of our team will contact you at a time of your choice, to discuss your situation.

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