ON THIS PAGE: You will learn that because mastocytosis is not a type of cancer there is no standard staging system. Use the menu to see other pages.
Staging is a way of describing where a cancer is located, if or where it has spread, and whether it is affecting other parts of the body. Because mastocytosis is not a type of cancer, there is no standard staging system.
ON THIS PAGE: You will learn about how doctors describe the growth or spread of most types of cancer, called stage, and how this differs for T-cell leukemia. Use the menu to see other pages.
ON THIS PAGE: You will learn about how doctors describe the growth or spread of CLL. This is called the stage. Use the menu to see other pages.
ON THIS PAGE: You will learn about how doctors describe the growth or spread of most types of cancer, called stage, and how this differs for HCL and PLL. Use the menu to see other pages.
ON THIS PAGE: You will learn about how doctors describe a cancer’s growth or spread. This is called the stage. This section also covers grading, which describes the composition of cells. To see other pages, use the menu on the side of your screen.
Staging is a way of describing where the cancer is located, if or where it has spread, and whether it is affecting other parts of the body. Doctors use diagnostic tests to find out the cancer’s stage, so staging may not be complete until all tests are finished.
ON THIS PAGE: You will find a list of the common tests, procedures, and scans that doctors can use to find out what’s wrong and identify the cause of the problem. To see other pages, use the menu on the side of your screen.
Doctors use many tests to diagnose cancer and find out if it has spread to another part of the body, called metastasis. Some tests may also determine which treatments may be the most effective. For most types of cancer, a biopsy is the only way to make a definitive diagnosis of cancer.
ON THIS PAGE: You will learn about how doctors usually describe the growth or spread of most cancers, called the stage, and how this differs for eosinophilic leukemia. Use the menu to see other pages.
Background
Staging is a way to describe a cancer. The cancer's stage tells you where a cancer is located and its size, how far it has grown into nearby tissues, and if it has spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body. Before starting any cancer treatment, doctors may use physical exams, imaging scans, and other tests to determine a cancer's stage. Staging may not be completed until all the tests are finished.
One of the first questions people diagnosed with cancer may ask is, “What’s the chance of survival?”
Doctors use statistics to provide an answer. Statistics are estimates that describe trends in large numbers of people. They can help with predictions, but they cannot tell what will actually happen to a person.
Survival statistics vary based on these factors:
Type of cancer
The stage of cancer
Age
Time period
