A ) Staging is the process of determining how far the cancer has spread. It is important to know the stage of the cancer before determining which treatment options are best. Most often, physicians use the TNM system for staging. This system gives three key pieces of information:
- T describes the size of the tumor and whether the cancer has spread to nearby tissue and organs.
- N describes how far the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
- M shows whether the cancer has spread (metastasized) to other organs of the body.