Staging of anaplastic thyroid cancer

The stage of a cancer describes its size and whether it has spread from where it started. Staging systems help doctors plan the best treatment and give an idea of what is likely to happen.

Different types of thyroid cancer are staged differently. This information is about staging anaplastic thyroid cancer.

We also have information about:

• staging papillary and follicular thyroid cancer
• staging medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).

We understand that waiting to know the stage of your cancer can be a worrying time. We are here if you need someone to talk to. You can:

• Call the Macmillan Support Line for free on 0808 808 00 00.
• Chat to our cancer information specialists online.
• visit our Online Community thyroid cancer forum to talk to people who have been affected by thyroid cancer, share your experience, and ask an expert your questions.

There 2 main staging systems for anaplastic thyroid cancer are:

• TNM staging
• number staging.

Another system used to describe the stage of the cancer is the number staging system. It uses the numbers 1 to 4. Your cancer doctor can explain number staging to you and how the number stage relates to the TNM stage.

Anaplastic thyroid cancer has its own number staging system. All anaplastic thyroid cancers are number stage 4. Stage 4 is divided into 3 groups, from A to C.

This means the tumour is any size and has not grown outside the thyroid gland. The cancer has not spread to any nearby lymph nodes.

This is the same as TNM staging T1 to T3a, N0, and M0.

This can mean different things. Either:

• the tumour is any size and has not grown outside the thyroid gland
• the cancer has spread to lymph nodes in the middle of the neck or upper chest and has not spread to other parts of the body.

This is the same as TNM staging T1 to T3a, N1a, and M0.

Or it can also mean the following:

• The tumour has grown outside the thyroid gland into the surrounding muscles and nearby structures, such as the voicebox (larynx) or wind pipe (trachea) or voicebox nerve (recurrent laryngeal nerve).
• The cancer may or may not have spread to the lymph nodes. It has not spread to other parts of the body.

This is the same as TNM staging T3b to T4, N0 or N1a, and M0.

This means the tumour is any size and the cancer may or may not have spread to lymph nodes. It has spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs or the bones.

This is the same as a TNM staging of any T, any N, and M1.