Loading
TNM staging is the universal system describing tumour size (T), lymph node spread (N), and distant metastasis (M).
TNM staging is the universal system for describing a cancer by tumour size and extent (T), lymph node spread (N) and distant metastasis (M), with aliases such as T stage, N stage, pT2 and clinical stage. The current scheme is the AJCC/UICC 8th edition, and it increasingly incorporates biomarkers, so that breast prognostic stage includes grade, ER, PR and HER2 status. The resulting stage I to IV groups drive treatment intent. The term connects to the related terms Stage, Primary tumour, Lymph node, Lymph node status, Carcinoma in situ (CIS), Breslow thickness and Disease-specific staging and risk systems, and it is referenced by the Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma entry, the Union for International Cancer Control and an idea for a live national dashboard of stage at diagnosis.
Anatomy alone explains only about two thirds of the ranking of who lives longer; the 2026 staging review makes the same point and argues for molecular and nodal-burden modifiers alongside TNM.
The staging change UK pathology reports now carry. Validation against the US National Cancer Database (Giannis 2021) found the eighth edition no better than the seventh at predicting survival overall.
The strongest data against routine re-resection for T1b tumours, which guidelines still recommend. A prospective study or registry with standardised pathology is the missing step; the authors' own conclusion is that extended cholecystectomy is not needed for T1b.
The study behind the T2a/T2b split adopted by the AJCC eighth edition in 2017, the one staging change in gallbladder cancer that grew from the disease's own anatomy rather than from bile duct cancer.
Depth of invasion has been the organising principle of gallbladder cancer staging ever since, through the TNM editions to the 2017 T2a/T2b split; and the observation that most cases are incidental was already true fifty years ago.
Shares AJCC 8th edition prognostic stage for breast cancer, Grade versus stage, Which staging edition a breast report uses: UICC TNM 8, TNM 9 and the AJCC prognostic stage, Stage.
Shares AJCC 8th edition prognostic stage for breast cancer, Micropapillary adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum, Adenoma-like adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum, Stage.
Shares Extraprostatic extension and seminal vesicle invasion, The Brigham and Women's Hospital staging system, and why squamous cell carcinoma has two, How skin carcinoma is staged in Britain: UICC TNM, and why it is not the American system, Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Shares AJCC stage (TNM staging manual), Grade versus stage, Lymph node status (node-positive / node-negative).
Shares Lymph node status (node-positive / node-negative), Which staging edition a breast report uses: UICC TNM 8, TNM 9 and the AJCC prognostic stage, Stage, Breast cancer (all types).
Shares Carcinoma of the gallbladder: staging, treatment, and prognosis, Optimal surgical treatment in patients with T1b gallbladder cancer: An international multicenter study, Test whether T1b gallbladder cancer needs the second operation at all, Gallbladder cancer roadmap: from a chance finding at gallstone surgery to a disease with its own trials.
Shares Obstruction and T4 disease in bowel cancer, Pancreas protocol CT (pancreatic protocol CT, dual-phase thin-slice CT with structured reporting), Peritoneal cancer index, Mediastinal lymph node stations.
Shares Tumor location is a strong predictor of tumor progression and survival in T2 gallbladder cancer: an international multicenter study, T2a versus T2b gallbladder cancer (peritoneal side versus hepatic side), Gallbladder cancer roadmap: from a chance finding at gallstone surgery to a disease with its own trials, Gallbladder cancer.