Staging and grading of laryngeal cancer

 

Staging Back to top

The stage of a cancer describes its size and whether it has spread beyond its original site. Knowing the extent of the cancer and its grade helps the doctors decide on the most appropriate treatment. The most commonly used staging system for cancer of the larynx is the TNM staging system. TNM stands for tumour, node and metastases:

• T describes the size of the tumour.
• 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).

Different TNM systems are used for each part of the larynx|. Your doctor or specialist nurse can give you more details about the TNM stage of your cancer. If you want more information, you could call our cancer support specialists|.

In this section, we use the term early stage cancer for small tumours that are contained within the larynx.

When we use the term locally advanced cancer, we mean tumours that have spread from the lining of the larynx into its covering (cartilage) or into nearby tissues or lymph nodes.

When we use the term advanced cancer, we mean tumours that have spread more widely to the surrounding tissues and lymph nodes or to another part of the body. 

Grading Back to top

The grade of a cancer gives an idea of how quickly it may develop. To find the grade of your cancer, your doctors will look at a sample of the cancer cells under a microscope.

There are three grades of laryngeal cancer:

• Grade 1 (low grade) - The cancer cells tend to grow slowly, look quite similar to normal cells (are ‘well differentiated’) and are less likely to spread than higher grades.
• Grade 2 (moderate grade) - The cells look more abnormal and are growing at a slightly quicker rate.
• Grade 3 (high grade) - The cancer cells tend to grow more quickly, look very abnormal (are ‘poorly differentiated’) and are more likely to spread than low-grade cancers.

The stage and grade of a cancer can help doctors to predict how that cancer might behave, how it might respond to treatment, and what the chance of cure might be.