Thyroid Tumor Staging

Staging is a medical practice that is used to standardize classification of thyroid tumors. It helps doctors communicate with each other about a patient's tumor. It also helps your doctors provide you with valuable information about your thyroid tumor.

Simplified, staging is a process beginning with the American Joint Committee on Cancer's TNM System—Tumor Node Metastasis.¹

T      Indicates tumor size and if it has spread
N      Indicates the degree of spread to the local lymph nodes
M     Indicates metastasis; if the tumor has spread beyond the neck (ie, lungs)

Thyroid tumors are graded on a scale of zero to 4 with 4 being the most severe. Further, each type of thyroid tumor—papillary, folicullar, medullary, and/or anaplastic—are graded according to what is characteristic for that thyroid cancer type.¹

Your doctor will explain how he or she classified your tumor, how the stage affects treatment options, and prognosis (disease outcome).