What Are the Stages of Head and Neck Cancers?

Staging is the process of identifying how extensive the cancer is. Accurately identifying the stage of a cancer helps determine what treatments will be most effective. Staging is particularly important for determining whether a cancer has spread from its original site to other parts of the body.

There are many staging systems, but the TNM system is the most common. This system uses three different codes to describe the size and location of the tumor, whether it has spread to the lymph nodes around the tumor, and whether it can be found in other parts of the body. Specifically, “T” refers to the size and location of the tumor, “N” to the number of lymph nodes (tiny bean-shaped organs throughout the body that help fight infection) involved, and “M” to whether the cancer has spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body.

After the T, N, and M categories of your cancer have been identified, your doctor will combine this information to assign a stage zero (0) to and stages one to four (IV) to your cancer. The higher the number, the more serious (advanced) the cancer is. Go to the specific head and neck cancer to find more information about the staging.