Question

1. Dr. Duke is an oncologist. He recently biopsied tissue from a tumor on Sara's face. He told her that her tumor is malignant but that it still looks very much like its parent tissue. He also told her that T is less than one, N is zero, and M is zero. What can she tell about her prognosis from this information?

Answer 1

Answer:

The doctor can tell that as T is less than one and N and M are zero, It is a primary tumor, that if she does not treat, it will grow into a large mass that later will make metastasis. As the tumor is in its early stages, there are high probabilities to treat it.

Explanation:

The TNM system measures tumors (T), nodes (N), and metastasis (M).

T: With the biopsied tissue, doctors study the number of cells that the tumor has. If the number is zero, there is no cancer, but if the number is one or higher, there is a tumor. The number states the size of it.

N: The next thing that doctors study with this system is if there are carcinogenic cells in the lymph nodes, the scale goes from zero, which means no cancer in the lymph, to three, which means that cancer has spread to different lymph nodes.

M: Lastly, they analyze if there is metastasis, in other words, if cancer has spread further to other areas of the body. In this case, zero means that there is no metastasis and one that there is.

We can conclude that Sara's tumor is in an early stage since T is less than one, N and M are zero, so there is no cancer in the lymph nodes, nor has it spread to other areas.