In 2005, the American Joint Committee on Cancer published the 8th edition of the staging manual, known as the AJCC eighth edition. The new edition incorporates contributions from the ISUP consensus conference, genitourinary pathology, and the WHO classification of malignant neoplasms and tumors. The AJCC cancer staging guidelines also include revised staging for male and female genital organ tumors. However, the differences between the two staging systems remain.
The previous seventh edition of the AJCC manual staged cancer solely based on anatomical information, and was unable to take into account the importance of modern molecular biology. Now, national cancer organizations recommend documentation of cancer stage at the time of diagnosis to improve patient care. Although retrospectively retrieving this data from patient records can be time-consuming, it is increasingly recognized as an integral part of cancer care. The new AJCC staging system, which incorporates biomarkers, is the standard of care worldwide.
After gaining research ethics approval, we obtained deidentified medical reports that contained pathological staging data. These reports were collected over a five-year period and were obtained from the pathology information system. Eight cases were included in the study, which had pathological stages of T0, TX, Tis, and N3. Automatic stage assignment was not implemented for T/N reports. It was implemented using SVMs (single vector machines).
In the present study, the most common types of extrapulmonary malignancies were breast, gastrointestinal, and thyroid cancer. In addition, gastrointestinal cancers were divided into seven subgroups. These subgroups included colorectal, ovarian, gastric, pancreatic, and liver cancer. The hematological and central nervous system cancers were also included. If a patient has two or more extrapulmonary malignancies, the shortest time interval is adopted.
The rate of tumor marker decline represents an important prognostic index. After EF-MRI, the rate of tumour decline was 51% and 50%, respectively. The B-HCG level was increased in 40-60% of seminomatous germ cell tumors. Because the results of clinical staging are still preliminary, more research is needed to identify the optimal treatment. While the accuracy of pathological T-stage prediction is not perfect, the results of this study were encouraging.
Despite the limitations of nestin expression as a marker for cancer staging, it has been associated with a positive nestin protein. Besides its potential to predict cancer malignancy, nestin has also been associated with the TNM staging. This association has also been linked to lung cancer staging by TNM and category. The results of the meta-analysis show a significant association between nestin expression and lung cancer stage. It is not yet clear whether nestin expression will be useful in cancer staging, but it is an important part of tumor assessment.
