How does Western medicine stage pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer itself is highly malignant, and in the late stages it usually metastasizes and spreads to distant locations. Very few patients are eligible for surgery. In order to provide more targeted treatment, Western medicine has divided pancreatic cancer into stages.

Western medicine staging usually refers to the international pancreatic cancer TNM staging and clinical staging:

1. International TNM staging of pancreatic cancer (UICC, 1987), T refers to the primary tumor, N refers to lymph node metastasis, and M refers to distant metastasis.

(1) Primary tumor (T) stage:

Tx: Can’t tell.

T0: No evidence of primary tumor.

T1: The primary tumor does not extend beyond the pancreas.

T1a: The tumor is ≤ 2 cm.

T1b: The tumor is larger than 2 cm.

T2: The tumor invades the duodenum, bile duct, or surrounding pancreas.

T3: The tumor invades the stomach, spleen, colon, and large blood vessels.

(2) Small regional lymph node (N) staging

Nx: Can’t judge.

N0: No metastasis to regional lymph nodes.

N1: There is regional lymph node metastasis.

(3) Distant metastasis (M) staging:

Mx: Can’t judge.

M0: No distant metastasis.

M1: There is distant metastasis.

2. Clinical staging

Stage I: T1N0M0; T1NⅩM0; TⅩN0M0; TⅩNⅩM0.

Stage II: T2N0M0; T2NⅩM0; T3N0M0; T3NⅩM0.

Stage III: any T, N1, M0:.

Stage IV: any T, any N, M1.