Read article Stages of soft tissue sarcoma
This page tells you about the stages of soft tissue sarcoma. There is information about
Stages of soft tissue sarcoma
The stage of a sarcoma tells the doctor how far it has spread. It is important because treatment is often decided according to the stage of a cancer. There are different ways of staging cancers. The two main ways are the TNM system and number systems. Grade is also important when staging sarcomas.
'TNM' stands for Tumour, Node, Metastasis. This describes the size of the tumour and whether it is near the body surface or deep in the tissue, whether there are lymph nodes with cancer cells in them, and whether or not the cancer has spread.
The number stages of sarcoma are
- Stage 1A - the tumour is low grade, small (5cm or less), superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 1B - the tumour is low grade, large (more than 5cm) and superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 2A - the tumour is medium or high grade, small, superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 2B - the tumour is medium grade, large, superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 3 - the tumour is high grade, large, superficial or deep and may have spread to lymph nodes
- Stage 4 - the tumour can be any size and any grade, but has spread to another part of the body including lymph nodes
Recurrence means a soft tissue sarcoma has come back after it was first treated.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the Treating soft tissue sarcoma cancer section.
The stage of a sarcoma tells the doctor how far it has spread. The tests and scans you have when diagnosing your cancer give some information about the stage. It is important because treatment is often decided according to the stage of a cancer.
There are different ways of staging cancers. The two main ways are the TNM system and number systems. There is detailed information about staging cancers in the CancerHelp UK section about cancer.
Generally speaking, the lower the stage, the better the likely overall outcome. This is because a lower stage means a cancer has been caught at an earlier stage and so there is a lower chance that it has spread. Grade is also taken into account when staging sarcomas. This is because a low grade sarcoma is less likely to spread than a high grade sarcoma.
TNM refers to tumour, nodes and metastasis.
There are 2 T stages for soft tissue sarcomas but each stage is divided into a and b
- T1a means the tumour is 5cm or less across at its widest point, and is near the body surface (superficial)
- T1b means the tumour is 5cm or less across and is deep in the body tissues
- T2a means the tumour is more than 5cm across and is near the body surface (superficial)
- T2b means the tumour is more than 5cm across and is deep in the body tissues
There are 2 N stages
- N0 means no lymph nodes have been found that contain cancer cells
- N1 means there are sarcoma cells in at least 1 lymph node
It is not common for soft tissue sarcomas to spread to lymph nodes, so your specialist is likely to treat an N1 tumour as a stage 4 sarcoma (see below).
There are 2 M stages
- M0 means there are no signs that the sarcoma has spread to another part of the body
- M1 means that the sarcoma has spread to another part of the body
There are 3 grades of sarcoma - low grade (G1), intermediate or medium grade (G2), and high grade (G3).
There are 4 major number stages for sarcoma. But stage 1 and stage 2 are both divided into 2 subgroups. The number stages of soft tissue sarcoma are
- Stage 1A - the tumour is low grade, small (5cm or less), superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 1B - the tumour is low grade, large (more than 5cm) and superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 2A - the tumour is medium or high grade, small, superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 2B - the tumour is medium grade, large, superficial or deep with no sign of spread
- Stage 3 - the tumour is high grade, large, superficial or deep and may have spread to lymph nodes
- Stage 4 - the tumour can be any size and any grade, but has spread to another part of the body including lymph nodes
Recurrence means a soft tissue sarcoma has come back after it was first treated.
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