Staging of head and neck cancer

The stage of a cancer is a term used to describe its size and whether it has spread beyond its original site. Knowing the extent of the cancer helps the doctors to decide on the most appropriate treatment.

Head and neck cancers are generally divided into four stages:

• small and localised (stage one)
• spread into surrounding structures (stages two or three)
• spread into other parts of the body (stage four).

If the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body this is known as secondary cancer (or metastatic cancer).

TNM staging system

A common way of staging head and neck cancers is the TNM staging system.

• T describes the size of the tumour and whether it has begun to spread to nearby structures, such as the skin or muscle.
• N describes whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.
• M describes whether the cancer has spread to another part of the body (secondary or metastatic cancer).

The staging of the different types of head and neck cancers are all slightly different. Your doctor or nurse can give you more details about the stage of your cancer.