How do doctors determine what stage cancer is in and how long a patient has to live?
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**STAGING**
Cancer stages are determined by specific criteria, including the size of the primary tumor, whether or not the cancer has spread or *metastasized*, and if there is metastasis, how far the cancer has spread. These things are determined using blood tests, MRIs, biopsies, exploratory surgery, etc…
Here are the stages for many of the most common cancers. Note, however, that each type of cancer is staged differently. A doctor takes the whole picture into account, so *please take these with a grain of salt.*
> Stage 0 — A small tumor that has not affected any nearby tissues. Cancer at this stage can typically be fully cured by surgically removing the tumor.
> Stage 1 — The cancer hasn’t spread to other body parts, but nearby tissues are impacted. (For example, there might be cancerous cells in the tissue immediately surrounding the tumor or primary cancer site.)
> Stage 2 — As soon as the cancer spreads to another body part, it becomes Stage 2. In this stage, the spread is still local, usually limited to the organs right next the the primary tumor. Occasionally, cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes is staged here.
> Stage 3 — Like Stage 2, this is usually limited to fairly localized cancer spread. In this stage, however, the regional spread is more advanced. This stage also includes significant spread to the lymph nodes. (Lymph nodes matter because cancer cells could *potentially* travel through your lymphatic system to other body parts).
> Stage 4 — Sometimes called metastatic cancer, this stage is usually reserved for advanced cancer that has traveled to distant body parts.
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**LIFE EXPECTANCY**
This is pretty straight forward: life expectancy is just a game of statistics. The doctor determines your type of cancer, stages it, then looks at data for other people who had the same diagnosis. They basically take the average of the lengths of time these other people lived and bam, there’s the life expectancy.
Sometimes it’s a little more complicated than that, but the most important takeaway is that **life expectancy is *not* a prediction…it’s a guess.** Some people die sooner, some die shortly after, and other people outlive their life expectancy by several years. [In fact, here’s an important rule of thumb to remember when you read any stats about anything: *statistics tell you nothing about the individual.*]
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