Staging is the process of gathering information from exams and imaging tests to find out how far a cancer has spread. A staging system is a standardized way for the cancer care team to describe the extent of the cancer spread. For most types of cancer, the stage (extent) of the cancer is one of the most important factors in selecting treatment options and in determining the outlook (prognosis).
But tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) differ in some important ways from cancers in other parts of the body. The most deadly aspect of other cancers is their ability to spread throughout the body. Tumors starting in the brain or spinal cord can spread to other parts of the CNS, but they almost never spread to other organs. The most dangerous aspect of these tumors is that they can interfere with essential functions of the brain.
Because tumors in the brain or spinal cord almost never spread to other parts of the body, there is no formal staging system for them. Some of the most important factors that help determine outlook include:
- The person's age
- The person's functional level (whether the tumor has started to interfere with normal brain functions)
- The type of tumor (such as astrocytoma, ependymoma, etc.)
- The grade of the tumor (how quickly the tumor is likely to grow, based on how the cells look under a microscope)
- The size and location of the tumor
- How much of the tumor can be removed by surgery (if it can be done)
- Whether or not the tumor has spread through the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to other parts of the brain and/or spinal cord
- Whether or not tumor cells have spread beyond the central nervous system
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