What is a cancer diagnosis?

Diagnosis is not the same as detection. Cancer may be detected when a patient or doctor recognizes symptoms or abnormalities, such as a lump or growth. After a cancer is detected, it still must be carefully diagnosed.
A diagnosis is an identification of a particular type of cancer. When making a diagnosis, the initial signs and symptoms are investigated through a variety of tests in order to identify whether cancer is causing them and, if so, what type of cancer it is.

What is a cancer stage?

Following a diagnosis of cancer, the most important step is to accurately determine the stage of cancer. Stage describes how far the cancer has spread. Each stage of cancer may be treated differently.  Generally, the lower the stage, the better the treatment outcome.

• Stage 0 – pre-cancer
• Stage 1 – small cancer found only in the organ where it started
• Stage 2 – larger cancer that may or may not have spread to the lymph nodes
• Stage 3 – larger cancer that is also in the lymph nodes
• Stage 4 – cancer in a different organ from where it started

How is prognosis determined?

The probable course and outcome of cancer is called the prognosis. There are many factors that help determine a prognosis. Some include:

• Your age
• Your level of physical fitness
• Size of your cancer
• Stage of your cancer
• Aggressiveness of your cancer (cancer cells that are growing and dividing rapidly are considered more aggressive)

Recent research suggests that the genetic make-up a cancer may be even more important for determining prognosis than the stage of the cancer.

How is cancer diagnosed?

Diagnosing cancer involves the use of a variety of tests that provide details about the abnormal cells.  Information is gathered in order to identify these cells as malignant (cancerous) or non-malignant (non-cancerous), and if they are malignant, to determine how serious (aggressive) the particular cancer cells are. There are many types of tests specifically designed to evaluate cancer:

• A pathology report is based on observation of abnormal cells under a microscope.
• Diagnostic imaging involves visualization of abnormal masses using high tech machines that create images, such as x-rays, computed tomography (CT), positron emission test (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and combined PET/CT.
• Blood tests measure substances in the blood that may indicate how advanced the cancer is or other problems related to the cancer.
• Tumor marker tests detect substances in blood, urine, or other tissues that occur in higher than normal levels with certain cancers.
• Special laboratory evaluation of DNA involves the identification of the genetic make-up—the DNA—of the abnormal cells.

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