Stage 0
Stage 0 colon cancer describes the discovery of a group of abnormal cells in an individual's colon. These cells may be cancerous in nature or they may be predisposed to becoming cancerous. The abnormal cells of Stage 0 may simply be benign and pose no threat to the person. Stage 0 colon cancer is also known by the medical term "carcinoma in sutu."
Stage I
Cancer has formed and it has managed to spread outwards beyond the inner tissue layer that exists on the wall of the patient's colon in Stage I colon cancer. The cancer may be in the second or even the third layers of tissue in the colon wall, but it has not yet spread to the outer wall of the large intestine, or colon, and it has not made its way to a point outside of the colon itself.
Stage II
Stage II colon cancer is subdivided into Stage IIA and IIB. Someone with Stage IIA colon cancer has had the disease spread out from the middle layers of tissue in the colon wall and perhaps into surrounding tissues near the rectum or the colon. Stage IIB colon cancer has made its way from the colon wall and into the organs in the region of the colon and/or into the abdominal wall of the patient.
Stage III
There are three different stages of Stage III colon cancer. Stage IIIA means the cancer has advanced from the inner tissue of the colon to the middle layers and is in no fewer than three lymph nodes. Stage IIIB colon cancer is in at least three lymph nodes and has expanded to surrounding tissues, organs, and/or the abdominal wall. Stage IIIC is in four lymph nodes or more and has spread to close by tissue sites, organs, and/or the abdominal wall.
Stage IV
Those patients with Stage IV colon cancer have seen the cancer infiltrate the lymph nodes close by to the colon. It has also metastasized, or spread, to organs much further from the colon like the lungs, brain, or liver. Cancer spreads via the bloodstream and the lymph system in order to accomplish this.
Tags: colon cancer, Stage colon, Stage colon cancer, colon cancer, lymph nodes, abdominal wall