Different Stages of Colon Cancer

23 Aug, 2022

What is staging for colon cancer?

Staging for most tumours is a way of describing the extent of cancer spread at the time of diagnosis. For staging a cancer of the colon, the doctor uses results of physical examination, various laboratory tests, radiological images, and biopsy.

Colon cancer is classified into IV stages. Generally lesser the number, the less the cancer has spread. Stage I denotes early disease confined to the colon only. Stage II denotes that the cancer has grown beyond the colon into adjacent areas. Stage III denotesthe spread of cancer outside the colon/rectum to one or more regional lymph nodes and stage IV denotes the spread of cancer to other parts of the body like lungs and liver. Limited disease spread to liver and or lungs which can be removed surgically is considered stage IVa while more extenisive disease spread is considered stage IVb.

Why is it important to stage colon cancer?

Treatment of colon cancer often involves multiple modalities like chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Using the appropriate sequence and combination of these treatment options often depends on stage of the cancer. So staging definitely helps the doctor plan your treatment plan. Secondly, the recovery and recurrences of cancer can be predicted to some extent by knowing the stage of cancer. Thirdly, it helps provide doctors a standardized way of describing extent of disease for a better understanding of response to treatment.

How is staging for colon cancer done?

Depending upon your doctor’s clinical judgement and previous findings on colonoscopy and physical examination, some combination of CT scan, MRI and PET CT scan will usually help determine the stage of colon cancer.