Mesothelioma Staging Criteria, Diffuse Malignant Mesothelioma Of The Pleural Space And Its Management Cancer Network

The staging system most often used for mpm is the american joint committee on cancer.

Hussain law firm. Once mesothelioma is diagnosed it must be staged. If it is caught this early aggressive treatment with surgery chemotherapy and radiation is typical. International staging system for diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma the most common type of mesothelioma is the only type of mesothelioma that has an approved staging system at this time. A combination of t2 n0 and m0 is considered to be stage ii mesothelioma. Developed by the international mesothelioma interest group imig and adopted by the american joint committee on cancer this staging system accurately correlates prognosis with disease burden but is complex and cumbersome.

These mesotheliomas start in the pleura which includes the lining of the lungs and the inner lining of the chest wall. Doctors use three characteristics to classify stage including tumor extent the effect on the lymph nodes and metastasis. Pleural mesothelioma is most commonly staged using the tnm staging system.

Staging is a process applied to all types of cancer although specific staging systems are often developed based on characteristics of specific cancers like mesothelioma. Stage i mesothelioma does not usually cause symptoms severe enough to lead to a diagnosis. The new staging system from the international mesothelioma interest group is a tnm tumor node metastasis system that was initially developed to categorize like cases into homogeneous prognostic groups to aid in evaluating new treatment options tables 1 3 3 10this staging system emphasizes criteria used to determine the extent of local tumor and lymph node.

Many staging systems have been developed and used over the last several decades and each system possesses specific criteria for the different stages. Mesothelioma staging refers to the process of categorizing malignant mesothelioma according to the extent of the disease in a patients body. Many staging systems have been developed and used over the last several decades for pleural mesothelioma.

By performing biopsies tests such as ct scans mri and physical exams will allow a more accurate prognosis as well. Malignant pleural mesothelioma the most common type of mesothelioma is the only type that has an approved staging system at this time. This staging criteria allows the physician and patient to know how extensive the diseases and what would be the best treatment.

There have been three different methods of staging mesothelioma but the tnm system is the most widely used. There are four main stages with stages 1 and 3 being further classified into stage 1a stage 1b stage 3a and stage 3b.