Stages, types and grades of bowel cancer

The stage of a bowel cancer tells you how far it has grown through the bowel wall and whether it has spread to nearby lymph glands or other organs. It helps your doctor to know which treatment you need.

There are different ways of staging bowel cancer. There is a number staging system and the TNM system. The Dukes' staging system is not really used anymore. 

The type refers to the type of cell the cancer started in and where it began. The grade means how abnormal the cells look under the microscope.

Grades and types of bowel cancer

The grade of a bowel (colorectal) cancer tells you how quickly it may grow or spread. Bowel cancer is also divided into different types depending on the type of cell that your cancer started in.

TNM Staging

Tumour, node and metastasis (TNM) staging is one of the systems used to stage bowel (colon and rectal) cancer.

Number stages of bowel cancer

There are different ways to stage bowel cancer. The number staging system has 5 different stages of bowel cancer - stage 0 to stage 4. 

Dukes' staging system

The most common system to stage bowel cancer is TNM staging. But you might hear your doctor talking about your bowel cancer as Dukes’ A,B,C or D.

Last reviewed: 
10 Dec 2021
Next review due: 
10 Dec 2024