Cancer grade

Cancer grade is a measure of how abnormal the cancer cells appear under a microscope. More abnormal cells tend to grow and spread at a faster rate.

Cancer stage

Cancer stage indicates how large a tumor is and how far its cells have spread. A doctor can use various systems to determine what stage a cancer has reached.

They may use the following 0–5 scaling system:

• Stage 1 usually means that a cancer is small and contained within the organ it started in
• Stage 2 usually means that the tumour is larger than in stage 1 but the cancer hasn't started to spread into the surrounding tissues. Sometimes stage 2 means that cancer cells have spread into lymph nodes close to the tumour. This depends on the particular type of cancer
• Stage 3 usually means the cancer is larger. It may have started to spread into surrounding tissues and there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes nearby.
•   Stage 4 cancer is an advanced cancer. It means that the cancer has spread beyond its original location and into other areas of the body. Stage 4 cancer isn’t usually curable, but treatment may improve overall survival and quality of life.

Cancer stages according to Cancer Research UK



Learn more about Cancer Staging and Tumor Grade