Esophageal Cancer Staging

When a person is diagnosed with any type of cancer, different tests are carried out to find out the stage of cancer. The stage of cancer helps in determining the spread of the disease. In other words, whether the disease is limited only to the affected area or it has spread outside to the other organs. This helps in deciding the line of treatment to be used for the patient. The process, which is used for determining the spread of disease, location of the disease and organs affected, is known as staging. The method in which cancer spreads in the body is either through the tissue, where the cancer cells infest the healthy tissues. Alternately it can also spread though the lymph nodes. The cells attack the lymph nodes and make their way to the other lymph nodes in different parts of the body. The last method is through blood. The cells infest the veins and capillaries and using blood as a medium make their way to the other parts of the body.

Stages of Esophageal Cancer

There are different tests carried out to determine the esophageal cancer stages. The different tests carried out include bronchoscopy, laryngoscopy, CT scan, endoscopic ultrasound, laparoscopy, etc. Each of the tests carried out, have different purposes. From the reports of the esophageal cancer prognosis can be determined.

Stage 0: This is the beginning stage of cancer of the esophagus. The abnormal cells can only be seen in the innermost layer of tissue lining. However, the cells are just abnormal, but are not full-fledged cancer cells. Over a period of time (the exact time period cannot be predicted), they may turn into cancer cells and may align themselves with the healthy normal tissues, or there are chances that they may not turn cancerous at all. The stage 0 is normally referred to as carcinoma in Situ.

Stage I: The stage I is divided into two different stages. In stage IA, cancer is situated only in the two internal layers of the esophagus. They may have spread to the lining of the esophagus. While in stage I B, there are two possibilities. The cancer is present only in the two internal layers of the esophagus, like in stage IA, but the cells are not differentiated. The other possibility is that the cancer tumor is located in the lower areas of the esophagus and it may have spread to the outer layers, but not to the lymph nodes or to the other parts of the body.

Stage II: The stage II is again differentiated into two stages, namely stage II A and stage II B. This differentiation is made depending on the spread of the disease. In stage II A, there are two possibilities. The tumor is located either in the upper part of the esophagus or in the middle part of the esophagus, while the cancer has spread to the two outer layers of the esophagus. The other possibility in stage II A is that the cancerous tumor is situated in the lower esophagus and cancer may have spread to either one of the two outer layers of the esophagus. However, in this case the cancer cells are not prominently differentiated. In stage II B, cancer may spread among the first three layers of the esophagus. It may also makes its way to the lymph nodes located nearby.

Stage III: There are three sub divisions of stage III. They are categorized as stage III A, stage III B and stage III C. In stage III A, again there are three possibilities. The first possibility is that cancer has made its way into the tissues, which cover the lungs, the outer cover of the heart, or also into the muscle situated at the bottom of the rib cage, but no other part of the body is affected with cancer. While the second possibility is that, the cancerous cells break through the membrane, that covers the esophagus and also makes its way into 1 or 2 lymph nodes situated closer to the esophagus. The third possibility is that the uppermost layer of the esophageal lining is affected with cancer and it has also made its way to 3 to 6 lymph nodes situated close to the esophagus.

The diagnosis of stage III B is a combination of two condition of stage III A. The cancer cells break through the membrane, which covers the esophagus and also affects 3 to 6 lymph nodes. However, it is important to note that it does not spread to any other part of the body.

Like stage III A, stage III C also has three possibilities. The first possibility is that the disease has made its way into the tissues, which cover the lungs, the upper most covering of the heart or the muscle situated at the bottom of the rib cage. Along with it, cancer may have also spread to about 6 lymph nodes. The other possibility is that cancer spreads to the other organs closer to the esophagus, like spine, windpipe or one of the major blood vessel. At the same time, chances are, the cancer may have spread to a number of lymph nodes. The last possibility is that the tumor can be of any size, and more than 7 lymph nodes may be affected, however, it has not yet made its way to any other part of the body.

Stage IV: Stage IV is the advanced stage of cancer. In the stage IV, esophageal cancer staging, there are two stages again. In stage IV A, esophageal cancer has affected the lymph nodes located both closer by as well as the distant ones. In stage IV B, it may have also made its way to the other parts of the body, like liver and lungs, along with affecting the lymph nodes, or it may not affect the lymph nodes at all. The survival rate at this stage can be judged depending on the spread of the disease.

The esophageal cancer symptoms along with the different tests are used to ascertain the stage. Looking at the results of the tests, the correct esophageal cancer prognosis can be given. It is seen, that esophageal cancer is more commonly seen in men as compared to women. Therefore, it is important to take care of oneself, if any of the symptoms of esophageal cancer are seen. However, it does not mean that women are not affected with it. People with advancing ages are the ones, who are more susceptible to the disease.