When referring to cancer, staging is the process used to determine how far the cancer has spread. Stages of mesothelioma were established by the Mesothelioma Interest Group and adopted by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), and are similar to the staging system used by most other cancers. At this time, the staging system is only applied to mesothelioma around the lung, and uses Roman numerals from I to IV (1 to 4) to describe the severity of the asbestos cancer.
Mesothelioma stages are based upon the findings of imaging studies such as CT and MRI scans. The patient's prognosis and treatment is dependant upon the stages of their mesothelioma.
The first steps in determining a patients' mesothelioma stage is to determine the T, N, and M stages. Once the categories have been assigned, they are grouped to determine an overall stage represented by Roman numerals. The stages of mesothelioma are as follows:
T Stages
* T1 – Mesothelioma is in either the right or left pleura lining and has only spread to the pleura covering the lung and potentially a few other small spots.
* T2 – Mesothelioma is in either the right or left pleura lining and has spread to the out lining of the lung, the diaphragm or the lung itself.
* T3 – Mesothelioma is in either the right or left pleura lining and has spread to:
o The first layer of the chest wall
o The fatty part of the mediastinum
o A single place in the chest wall
o The outer covering of the heart
* T4 – Mesothelioma is in either the right or left pleura lining and has spread to:
o The chest wall
o Through the diaphragm
o Into the esophagus, trachea, thymus or blood vessels
o Into the spine
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