Know about the Three Stages of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is fast emerging as a strong threat for women all over the world. Cervical cancer is a cancer that starts in the lower part of the uterus, also known as the uterine cervix. Before the cervical cancer stage, there is a pre cervical cancer stage.

The cervical cancer also has a few stages of culmination. To check how far cancer has spread in a human body, one recourses to staging. Let us see, what the stages of cervical cancer are.

three stages of cervical cancer

Stages of Cervical Cancer

The spread of cancer is explained by the medical unit through stages. There are three main stages of cervical cancer which are enlisted below:

Stage T or Tumor

The idea is to trace the location and size of the tumor. This stage again is categorized in a number of stages under it, each denoted by a roman numeral, and each signifying a different phase. For example, T0 stage means that there is no primary tumor in the uterine tract; “T” is a stage where cancerous cells could be found in cells that layers the uterus. There are some others stages, where full-fledged cancerous growth can be found. The final stage of T4 implicates that the cancer is spreading beyond the pelvis region.

Stage L or Lymph Node

There are several lymph nodes in a human body. The lymph nodes that are found close to the cervix are named as regional lymph nodes. Again there are different stages within this stage, once again identified with numerals. In the N0 stage, it is said, that the cancerous growth is yet to spread to the regional lymph nodes, that is, the nodes next the cervix, and N1 means that it has reached the nodes.

Stage M or Metastasis

This is the third stage, again divided into a few stages described by numerals, where M0 means that cancer has not spread to distant organs and M1 means that cancer has extended its grip to the distant organs of the body.

With the help of this information, about how far the cancer has spread one could assess the stage of cancer that the person is suffering from and thereby the treatment process is decided. Here again roman numerals are used to differentiate from one stage to another. There are sub divisions in some of these stages, according to the details of the information. Mentioned in ascending order – stage I is the least serious, while stage IV comes across as a somber state where cancer has spread to different organs, such as, the liver or the lungs.