Staging systems provide doctors with a common language for describing tumors. After vaginal cancer is diagnosed, a series of tests are used to investigate the extent of the cancer and to see whether it has spread to other parts of the body from where it started.
Staging is a way of recording the size, aggressiveness and growth of a cancer, and determining the plan for treatment. By understanding the stage of your cancer, you can make informed decisions about your treatment.
Staging vaginal cancer attempts to discover the following:
- The size of the tumor
- Whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes and tissues
- Whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body
Staging vaginal cancer helps Penn Medicine gynecologic oncologists compare an individual situation to other patients with vaginal cancer. They can also review clinical studies on groups of patients in similar cancer stages to determine how the cancer may behave, and how different treatments may work.
Stages of vaginal cancer
Both the American Joint Committee on Cancer (TNM model) and the Federation Internationale de Gynecologie et d'Obstetrique (FIGO) can be used to stage vaginal cancer.
Most gynecologists prefer the five stage FIGO system that begins at stage 0, the earliest, through stage 4, the most advanced.
Staging vaginal cancer is as follows:
- Stage 0. The very earliest stage of vaginal cancer, also known as carcinoma in-situ (CIS), vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VAIN), or pre-cancer, because the cancer cells are trapped in the vaginal skin and have not yet grown into the deeper tissues or spread away from the vagina.
- Stage I. Cancer has started to grow into the deeper tissues, but has not spread beyond the vagina.
- Stage II. Cancer has started to spread outside the vagina into the surrounding tissues but has not reached the walls of the pelvis.
- Stage III. Cancer has spread outside the vagina and reached nearby lymph nodes or pelvic side walls.
- Stage IV. Advanced vaginal cancer, with spread to other organs outside the vagina.