What Are the Stages of Colon Cancer
What Are the Stages of Colon Cancer from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
Colon cancer specialist, Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi of Cleveland Clinic, provides an overview of the stages of colon cancer and how these stages are determined.
Dr. Smitha Krishnamurthi is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Krishnamurthi here.
See More From The Pro-Active Colon Cancer Patient Toolkit
Katherine Banwell:
Let’s start with a basic question. What are the stages of colon cancer?
Dr. Krishnamurthi:
Colon cancer is categorized in four stages – stage 1, 2, 3, 4. This takes into account the tumor itself, how thick it is. These tumors start on the inside of the colon, like as a polyp. Then they can grow through the colon wall. The tumor thickness and has it spread to any of the lymph nodes? and has it spread further to a distant organ like liver or lungs?
That’s a tumor node metastasis. Considerations that go into the staging. Stage 1 colon cancer or colorectal cancer would be a very shallow tumor, maybe just in a polyp and hasn’t spread to any nodes or anywhere else. Stage 2 is when the tumor is thicker. It may be involving the full thickness of the colon or rectum but has not spread to any nearby lymph nodes. Stage 3 is when the cancer has spread to regional or nearby lymph nodes. Stage 4 is when it’s metastatic or it’s spread to another organ.
Katherine:
Okay. Thank you.