What Are The Stages Of Cancer?

Clinical Stage

When an individual is initially diagnosed with cancer, they will receive a stage classification before the start of any cancer treatment. This is referred to as the clinical stage. Cancer in the body will always be referred to using the stage it was assigned when the patient was first diagnosed with the disease, regardless of its progression pattern or metastasis. As more information is gathered about a patient's cancer over time, new alphanumeric characters or medical terms are added onto the initial stage designation they received. The reason for this consistency among cancer staging is to keep the statistical numbers, information, and treatment outcomes for specific cancer types consistent. Using the clinical stage assigned to the patient's cancer can help medical health care providers research and exchange a patient's information and gives them a universal terminology for a consistent understanding, evaluation, and analysis of clinical trial results.

Learn about another type of stage of cancer now.