Knowing the stage and grade of cancer helps your doctors know what treatment to use and determine the outcome. Staging reveals how far cancer has spread and grading helps predict how fast cancer will grow and spread.
Cancer is typically staged as:
Stage 0: Cancer hasn t spread
Stages I, II and III: Cancer has grown or has spread into nearby tissues or lymph nodes. The higher the stage, the farther cancer has spread
Stage IV: Cancer has spread beyond the lymph nodes, into other parts of the body
Grading, which is different from staging, refers to how abnormal tumor cells and tissue look under a microscope, an indication of how quickly a cancer is likely to grow and spread. Grading systems vary by cancer type, but in general, the following system is used:
G1: Well differentiated (low grade)
G2: Moderately differentiated (intermediate grade)
G3: Poorly differentiated (high grade)
G4: Undifferentiated (high grade)