BACKGROUND TNM staging plays a critical role in the evaluation and management of a range of different types of cancers. The conventional combinatorial approach to the determination of an anatomic stage relies on the identification of distinct tumor (T), node (N), and metastasis (M) classifications to generate a TNM grouping. This process is inherently inefficient due to the need for scrupulous ...

Revisions in stage grouping of the TNM subsets (T=primary tumor, N=regional lymph nodes, M=distant metastasis) in the International System for Staging Lung Cancer have been adopted by the American Joint Committee on Cancer and the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer. These revisions were made to provide greater specificity for identifying patient groups with similar prognoses and treatment op...

The latest edition of the TNM classification of tumors reflects advances in radiologic imaging such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and endosonography. These modalities have increased the significance of clinical staging by enabling staging to be performed earlier. Thus, therapeutic decisions can be made before rather than during surgery. This review highlights important cha...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the US. Over 215,000 cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2008, with over 161,000 deaths per year. Appropriate therapy is dependent on accurate staging to determine those amenable to surgery and define the appropriate role for chemotherapy and radiation therapy. For many years, the tumor, node, metastases (TNM) classification syst...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognostic factors of second primary tumors (SPTs) in the oral cavity in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after definitive radiation, and to determine an optimal treatment strategy for these patients. METHODS This retrospective study enrolled consecutive patients who were admitted to ...

Breast cancer staging, in particular N-stage changed most significantly due to the advanced technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy two decades ago. Pathologists have more thoroughly examined and scrutinized sentinel lymph node and found increased number of small volume metastases. While pathologists use the strict criteria from the Tumor Lymph Node Metastasis (TNM) Classification, studies have...