Staging
Staging is a process that tells a doctor if the cancer has spread and if it has, how far. It depends on the severity of the original tumor, and whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or distant parts of the body. Staging is an important step in evaluating treatment options. Staging is slightly different for each specific type of head and neck cancer, but can be generalized as follows:
Stage 0
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Description
- Cancer found only in squamous cells where it began. Called "carcinoma in situ," meaning it has not yet invaded nearby tissue.
Treatment
Stage I
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Description
- Cancer has invaded nearby tissue, but has not yet spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Treatment
- Surgery and/or radiation therapy.
Stage II
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Description
- Cancer has grown even deeper into nearby tissue, but still has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Treatment
- Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy (at times), or a combination of these treatments.
Stage III
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Description
- Cancer has either grown much deeper into surrounding tissue or started to spread to one lymph node.
Treatment
- Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these treatments.
Stage IVa
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Description
- Cancer has grown completely through surrounding tissue into adjacent structures (such as tissue, cartilage, bone, or nerves) and may have spread to a few lymph nodes.
- OR
- Cancer has spread to more than one lymph node.
Treatment
- Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these treatments.
Stage IVb
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Description
- Cancer has grown completely through surrounding tissue and invaded major structures (such as the carotid artery or skull base) and may have spread to the lymph nodes.
- OR
- Cancer has spread to a large lymph node.
Treatment
- Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these treatments.
Stage IVc
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Description
- Cancer has spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body.
Treatment
- Generally not curable but chemotherapy may be administered to decrease symptoms or delay progression of cancer.
