What Are the Stages of Cancer and What Do They Mean?
The stage of cancer indicates how advanced it is and what treatments will work best.
After a diagnosis is made, your doctor will stage the cancer.
The stage defines the location of the cancer, how much it has spread, how big it is, and how aggressive it is.
Knowing the stage of cancer is important because it typically determines your treatment options.
A cancer is referred to by the stage it’s given when you’re first diagnosed, even if it worsens to a different stage.
How Doctors Stage Cancers
Doctors use different tests to determine a cancer’s stage. These might include:
- Physical exams
- Lab work, such as blood or urine tests
- Biopsies
- Imaging tests, such as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT), or positron-emission tomography (PET) scan
- Surgery
These methods can show your physician where the cancer is located and how much it’s spread throughout your body.
