After a person is informed that he has been diagnosed with an oncological disease in the body, the first thing he wants to know is the stage of cancer formation and the doctor's prognosis for recovery. A large number of cancer patients are simply afraid to hear their diagnosis.
Patients are afraid of the 4th stage of the disease, thinking that this is a death sentence and that in this condition the prognosis is extremely unfavorable. But in modern medicine, no degree of neglect of an oncological disease guarantees a positive diagnosis. The last stage of the development of the disease also does not indicate an unfavorable prognosis. There are a large number of factors that can affect the prognosis of the disease and the general condition of a person.
Features of classification
This includes the histology of tumor formations, their distribution sites, as well as the types of detected metastases.
Classification of oncological neoplasms is very important, as it helps doctors to obtain accurate dataabout a certain tumor or its location, to draw up the correct treatment, monitor its course and carry out general monitoring of the development of the tumor process. Determining the stage of cancer is important in order to make a more effective and high-quality treatment.
Handbook TNM classification of malignant tumors helps to accurately determine the severity of the disease and its prevalence. Such diagnostics are performed by doctors, whose main task is to determine the prognosis of the lesion, as well as the selection of more rational ways to deal with the problem. To achieve a good positive effect, a general assessment of the anatomical spread of oncology is carried out through an examination of the ongoing process.
TNM classification of tumors meets all the necessary requirements for an effective examination of cancer, and is also based on the meaning of the abbreviation (TNM):
- T denotes the prevalence of a first-stage tumor in the human body.
- The degree of spread of the disease in the organ, as well as the presence or absence of metastases in the lymph node will be determined by the symbol N.
- The designation M indicates the type of formed metastases that are common in distant areas of the affected organ or tissue (it can also indicate their absence).
Numbers are used to identify the prevalence of the tumor process.
Determination of localization of education
Localization of cancer will bedetermined according to generally established rules, which include the following points:
- The established diagnosis of the disease must be accurately confirmed by histological examination.
- The disease itself must be described in detail. When describing, attention is paid to the clinical picture of the disease, based on the information obtained from a comprehensive study of the patient before prescribing treatment. Further, in the classification of cancer according to TNM, the pathological component of the process is described, which is detected with the help of a study conducted before the start of therapeutic therapy. During the operation and after studying the collected biological material from the patient, the information obtained is indicated by the abbreviation pTNM.
- The results of pTNM and TNM tumor classification help doctors accurately determine the stage of the disease.
- If doctors have some doubts about accuracy when conducting an examination and determining the symptoms of a disease, then they are based on a less common category.
- In the group of oncological diseases, there is also a T-category. It includes a large number of forms of cancers that spread in a particular organ. The number of certain formations is indicated by the sign m, next to which an additional numerical indicator is placed.
Main types of classification of formations
Classification according to the TNM system of tumors can be indicated by the following symbols:
- T - primary tumor: x - determines the preliminary sizeoncological formation in the body. Tis detects carcinoma of the pre-invasive type. The prevalence of the disease or its progression in size is indicated by certain numbers (T1, T2). T10 - means the absence of oncology of the primary type.
- N-lymph nodes: N0 - metastases are not detected in the body. To indicate the severity of damage to regional lymph nodes by metastases, numbers are used - N1, 2, 3, and so on. NX - it is not possible to assess the general condition of regional lymph nodes due to the fact that the information collected is not enough.
- M - metastases of the finished location: M1 - metastases were detected, V0 - metastases were detected, but they differ in their remote location in relation to each other. MX - it is not possible to determine whether there are or are no metastases in the formation, since insufficient information about the formation was collected.
Also often, after the letter M, the name of the organ in which metastases were recorded is written in brackets. For example, M1 (lym) indicates that metastases are present in the lymph nodes, M1 (mar) - in the bone marrow.
Histopathological differentiation
When classifying cancer according to the TNM system, histopathological differentiation is additionally used, which provides more detailed information about the investigated cause of the tumor formation.
The following symbols exist:
- GX - lack of information to determine the severity of the disease;
- G1/G2/G3 - the severity of the lesion(low, medium or high);
- G4 - helps to identify undifferentiated cancer in the human body.
Classification according to the TNM system of oncological lesions helps to accurately determine the degree of prevalence of education, taking into account the place of its distribution and distinctive features, based on the individual characteristics of the human anatomy, as well as the organ where the cancer was detected.
Existing stages of cancer
Classification of malignant tumors according to the TNM system divides them all into separate stages. Doctors determine the course of the disease from 0 to 4 stages. Moreover, each of them also has its own letter designation - A or B.
Cancer Stage Zero
At the zero stage of oncological formation, a small tumor develops in the human body, which has strictly established boundaries. Most often, such a formation does not go beyond the boundaries of the epithelium, doctors call it non-invasive. This stage of cancer is considered the initial stage, it always appears, regardless of the place of spread of the disease.
But at this stage of the development of the disease, a person almost always has no pronounced symptoms, for this reason, it is possible to detect the presence of a malignant formation only with an unscheduled check-up by a doctor. If cancer at stage 0 of development was detected in a timely manner and passed the TNM classification, then the prognosis for the patient's recovery is usually favorable.
First stage disease
At the first stage of development of the oncological process init is possible to define expressed nodes of large size. The malignant process has not yet managed to spread to the lymph nodes, and metastases have not yet appeared. The person's condition is positive, but at this stage of the lesion, the disease can already provoke initial signs of malaise, which will indicate the presence of a serious pathological process in the body.
Recently, cancer of the first stage of development began to be diagnosed in patients much more often than before. Doctors think that the timely detection of a tumor formation is influenced by the consciousness of people who are examined by specialists every year. It also brings good results that modern clinics have new and high-quality equipment that helps to carry out effective diagnostic measures and determine the disease at an early stage of its development. When diagnosing the first stage of cancer, the chances of a favorable outcome continue to be quite high.
Second stage cancer
Oncological processes at the second stage of the development of the lesion begin to manifest themselves, the tumor rapidly progresses, increases in size, spreads to nearby tissues. In this case, a person begins to show metastases in the lymph nodes. The general condition of the patient deteriorates greatly, he begins to show negative symptoms that force him to go to the doctor. According to statistics, it is at the 2nd stage of cancer development in humans that an oncological process in an organ or tissues is most often detected.
Prognosis for recovery inIn this case, they depend on the patient himself, therefore they are individual in each individual case. Recovery will directly depend on the severity of the disease, the place of its spread and the histology of the lesion itself. If all the recommendations of a specialist are followed, cancer in the second stage of development can be successfully eliminated.
Third stage defeat
Oncology at the third stage of development is already very common, the tumor formation becomes very large, numerous germination of the oncological process in the organs and tissues in the immediate vicinity is revealed. In this case, the specialist detects the process of metastasis in all regional lymph nodes.
Favorable prognoses include a condition in which metastases do not spread to distant organs, which gives a person a chance to cure the disease.
It is possible in principle to cure cancer at the 3rd stage of development, but no specialist can guarantee an accurate positive result of treatment. Most often, the result of therapy depends on a large number of factors: the localization of the lesion, the histological features of the formation, as well as the severity.
Launched oncology
The fourth stage of the oncological process is the most dangerous for a person and unfavorable for treatment. This condition is characterized by a large size of the tumor formation, which spreads in different directions, capturing he althy organs and tissues. At this time, global metastatic processes begin inlymph nodes, mostly distant type.
Cancer of the 4th stage becomes chronic with progression, which no longer allows it to be cured. When diagnosing a disease at this stage of development, a person can only be provided with assistance aimed at maintaining the condition of the body and prolonging life.
The sooner a person goes to see a doctor and begins a comprehensive and effective treatment of education, the greater the chance of a positive result of treatment. It is important to remember that cancer at the 4th stage of development, unfortunately, cannot be cured.
Prostate cancer and its classification
For effective treatment of prostate cancer, it is important to accurately determine the stage of its development and the type of treatment. The severity of the disease will directly depend on the size of the tumor formation and the prevalence of cancer cells in human organs, as well as the severity of the tumor. To make a diagnosis, specialists use the TNM classification of prostate cancer.
Gleason scale/sum is also used to determine the malignancy of a tumor. To do this, the doctor performs a biopsy of the prostate. The higher the Gleason sum, the more aggressive the disease.
The Glinson scale is based on the degree to which cancer cells found in prostate tissues differ from normal, he althy cells in the organ. If the cancer cells in the diagnosis are similar to normal cells of the organ, then the tumor is assigned the first score. If cancer cells are very different from he althy ones, then the tumor formation receives a maximum score of 5. In mostcases, patients are diagnosed with the third degree of development of prostate cancer.
Gleason score scores on a scale (from one to five) the two largest or malignant tumors that have been identified in the tissues of the organ (most often, tumor cells spread to several areas of the prostate). For example, a Gleason sum of 7 points would mean that the two largest or malignant tumors in the body have 3 and 4 points, which, as a result of addition, will give 7.
Clinical and anatomical classification of lung cancer
The anatomical classification of the lung according to TNM includes the grouping of cancer depending on the caliber of the affected bronchi into peripheral and central.
Central lung cancer spreads to the bronchi. In this case, lobar, segmental and subsegmental lesions are available for visual inspection through a bronchofibroscope. A distinctive feature of the central tumor is that during its development it most often obstructs the lumen of a rather large bronchus, provokes atelectasis or hypoventilation of a certain section of the lung tissue, which leads to the appearance of clinical and radiological symptoms.
In addition, oncology in the large bronchus can take place against the background of the following negative symptoms: cough, blood discharge, paracancrotic pneumonia. Bronchoscopic examination with biopsy helps in most cases to accurately identify the diagnosis and exclude central cancer. But in some cases, even the central tumor does not obturate the lumen in the organ, butspreads mainly near the bronchial wall.
As a result of this process, atelectasis syndrome or hypoventilation does not occur. With such a lesion, the primary bronchus tumor is recognized very rarely and is difficult to see through fiberoptic bronchoscopy.
Peripheral cancer forms from smaller branches of the bronchi, which is why it is localized in the peripheral parts of the lung tissue. The disease, which is common in the small bronchi, does not lead to coughing and other symptoms that are characteristic of central lung cancer, which leads to problems with modern diagnosis of the disease. The peripheral form of cancer for a long time does not provoke any symptoms, therefore, it is detected already at a serious stage.
