What is the TNM staging of liver cancer

The currently recognized staging standard for primary liver cancer at home and abroad is the TNM staging system jointly developed by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and the American Joint Committee on Oncology (AJCC) and revised in 2002.

The TNM staging of liver cancer is based on the severity and development stage of the disease. In TNM, T stands for tumor, N stands for regional lymph nodes of the tumor-bearing organ, and M stands for distant metastasis. Under these three aspects, it is further divided into various stages:

T1: Indicates that the diameter of the tumor is less than 2 cm and there is no blood or lymph node metastasis.

T2: It means that although the diameter of the tumor is less than 2 cm, the tumor has invaded the blood vessels close to it; or there are two cancerous masses with a diameter of less than 2 cm, but no invasion of blood vessels; tumors with a diameter of more than 2 cm but no invasion of blood vessels are also considered this type.

T3: Indicates a tumor with a diameter of more than 2 cm that has invaded the blood vessels; or there are several small lumps with a diameter of less than 2 cm, but there has been vascular invasion, or there are one or more tumors larger than 2 cm.

T4: It means that there are tumors in both lobes of the liver, or the tumor has invaded the portal vein of the liver.

N: N0 means no lymph node metastasis, N1 means metastasis.

M: M0 indicates no distant metastasis, and M1 indicates distant metastasis.

The TNM staging system is divided into stages I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, and IV based on the size, number, vascular invasion, lymph node invasion, and presence or absence of metastasis of the tumor, reflecting the severity of the tumor from low to high:

Stage I: T1, N0, M0;

Stage II: T2, N0, M0;

Stage IIIa: T3, N0, M0

Stage IIIb: T4, N0, M0

Stage IIIc: any T, N1, M0;

Stage IV: any T, any N, M1.