Cervical Cancer Stages

The extent or spread of cervical cancer is referred to as the stage of the disease. Doctors perform cancer investigations of the various cervical cancer stages and symptoms. If they are positive that the patient has cervical cancer, the following tests are done to determine the stage. Cervical carcinoma staging is necessary for figuring out the course of cervical cancer treatment. The tests involve:

Imaging Tests: X-ray, MRI, CT scan and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) are performed to obtain a detailed and accurate image of the internal organs of the body. This helps doctors to identify if the cancer has spread to other parts of your body from the cervix.

Visual examination of the bladder and rectum is done to look for the presence of abnormal growth of cells in the area.

The stages of cervical cancer

Cervical Cancer Stage I

This is the stage of cervical cancer when cancer cells have formed but only at the cervix. Stage 1 of cervical cancer is divided into stages IA and IB with further subtypes based on the size of the cervical tumour formed and the depth of tumour invasion in the body. The final point of stage I is reached when the size of the cervical tumour has crossed 4 centimetres.

Cervical Cancer Stage II

Stage II of cervical cancer occurs when the abnormal cell growth has spread to the tissues around the uterus and cervix and has also infected the upper two-thirds of the vagina. Stage II is divided into stages IIA and IIB depending on how far the cancer has spread.

Stage IIA - cancer has spread to a larger area of the upper part of the vagina and the tumour has grown to a size more than 4 centimetres.

Stage IIB - cancerous cells have metastasised on the tissues surrounding the uterus.

Cervical Cancer Stage III

The extensive spread of cancer in the uterine cervix region is diagnosed as cervical cancer stage 3. Stage III is divided into three sub-stages based on how far and in which regions the cancer has metastasised. The sub-stages are:

Stage IIIA: In this stage, cervical cancer has spread to the lower third part of the vagina but has not yet affected the pelvic wall. This means that the patient has not yet started showing any pelvic cancer symptoms.

Stage IIIB: This is the stage when the carcinoma cells have grown from the cervix and the ureters are starting to get affected by the abnormal proliferation of cells. One or more ureters have been blocked in this case which has caused one or more kidneys to malfunction or completely stop working. Stage IIIB marks the stage where cancer has successfully metastasised on the pelvic wall.

Stage IIIC: This stage is further subdivided based on the spread of cancer to the lymph nodes.

Stage IIIC1: Cervical cancer, in this case, has spread to the lymph nodes in the pelvis

Stage IIIC2: Cancer has affected the lymph nodes near the aorta, hence making its way into the abdomen

Cervical Cancer Stage IV

Stage 4 of cervical cancer is the last and final stage. This means the cancer has spread to several vital organs of the body, making treatment even more complicated. Stage 4 cervical cancer symptoms like swelling of the leg and excessive body pain start to become more recurrent. This stage is subdivided into:

Stage IVA: Cancer has spread extensively to the surrounding areas like the urinary bladder and rectum

Stage IVB: In this last stage, cancer has affected vital parts of the body like the liver, lungs, bones and very distant and deeper lymph nodes