Gastric cancer is a common malignant tumor of the digestive tract, and early gastric cancer is mostly asymptomatic or has only mild symptoms. When more obvious clinical symptoms appear, the lesion is already in the progressive or advanced stage. Therefore, the mortality rate of the disease is high.
Non-medical personnel only judge the difference between early and late stage of gastric cancer based on the presence or absence of distant metastasis (liver, lung, bone, etc.), but from the perspective of medical professionals, postoperative T, N and M staging is the complete and accurate staging of gastric cancer patients: T staging representing the depth of tumor invasion (such as mucosal layer, submucosal layer, muscular layer, plasma layer, etc.), N staging representing lymph node metastasis (number of lymph node metastasis), M staging representing M stage (presence or absence of organ metastasis outside the primary lesion) representing the distant metastasis situation.
T-stage.
Tis carcinoma in situ, intraepithelial tumor, without invasion of the lamina propria.
T1 tumor invading the intramucosal or submucosal layers.
T1a tumor invading the lamina propria of the mucosa.
T1b Tumor invading the submucosa.
T2 tumor invading intrinsic muscular layer.
T3 Tumor invasion of the subplasma layer (formerly T2b).
T4 T4a tumor invading through the plasma membrane (formerly T3).
T4b tumor invasion of adjacent organs.
N stage.
N1 1~2 lymph node metastases.
N2 3~6 lymph node metastases (formerly N1).
N3 N3a 7~15 lymph node metastases (formerly N2)
N3b ≥16 lymph node metastases (formerly N3).
M staging.
cM0 clinically without distant metastases.
cM1 clinically distant metastases, e.g. CT showing liver metastases from colon cancer.
pM1 Microscopically confirmed distant metastases, e.g. fine needle aspiration biopsy.
Stage 0.
Tis.
N0.
M0.
Stage IA.
T1.
N0.
M0.
Phase IB.
T2.
N0.
M0.
T1.
N1.
M0.
Phase IIA.
T3.
N0.
M0.
T2.
N1.
M0.
T1.
N2.
M0.
Phase IIB.
T4a.
N0.
M0.
T3.
N1.
M0.
T2.
N2.
M0.
T1.
N3.
M0.
Phase IIIA.
T4a.
N1.
M0.
T3.
N2.
M0.
T2.
N3.
M0.
Phase IIIB.
T4b.
N0.
M0.
T4b.
N1.
M0.
T4a.
N2.
M0.
T3.
N3.
M0.
Phase IIIC.
T4b.
N2.
M0.
T4b.
N3.
M0.
T4a.
N3.
M0.
Phase IV.
Any T.
Any N.
M1.
Stages 0 to IV of gastric cancer derived from the combined T, N and M stages are closely related to the development of postoperative treatment plans and prognostic judgments.