What is the "TNM system"?

What is the "TNM system"?

Richard E. Gould (Hematologist/Oncologist, Cedars-Sinai Outpatient Cancer Center) gives expert video advice on: What are the most common types of breast cancer?; What causes breast cancer?; Is breast cancer fatal? and more...

The TNM system is a way of staging cancer. The TNM system is not just for breast cancer, but for any type of cancer. And the T stands for the size of the initial tumor. The N stands for the nodal involvement, in other words the lymph nodes that are involved with cancer. And M stands for metastases. Is there any cancer outside of where the cancer initially started? So is there cancer that has spread through another organ like the liver or the lung? Based upon the TNM, for breast cancer women are diagnosed with either a Stage I, a Stage II, a Stage III, or a Stage IV cancer. And all of them have different prognoses and different treatment goals.