Staging
Staging of a cancer refers to a way of looking at where it is, how big it is, and how much it has spread. A small cancer that is confined in location is always easier to treat than a large cancer that is invading tissue around it and has spread to other parts of the body.
Mesothelioma staging systems refer to pleural mesotheliomas. There are three. The oldest is called the Butchart System. It is based on the size of the tumor and has four stages.
The TNM system, which was developed by the American Joint Committee on Cancer, is the most commonly used system. It uses values for Tumor (size and spread), Nodes (lymph node involvement) and Metastases (spread to the rest of the body), to stage the cancer. The earliest mesothelioma would be T1N0M0, and the most advanced T4N3M1.
The Brigham staging system is based on the surgical removability of the tumor. It is the newest, but used the least.
In all the staging systems, Stage 1 is local disease that is potentially removable surgically, and everything about Stage 1 is considered advanced.
Dr. Kaplan