The stages of bone cancer
This page tells you about staging for bone cancers.
This page tells you about staging for bone cancers.
The stages of bone cancer
The stage of a cancer is important when deciding on treatment. The most common staging system for bone cancer is number staging, from 1 to 3.
The grade of bone cancer cells
Doctors grade bone cancer cells according to how the cells look under a microscope. The more abnormal they look, the more aggressive and fast growing the cancer is likely to be. The more abnormal cells are called high grade.
Stage 1 and 2 bone cancer
Stage 1 bone cancer is low grade and has not spread. Stage 1A is completely inside the bone. Doctors may call it ‘intracompartmental’. Stage 1B has grown through the bone wall. Doctors may call it ‘extracompartmental’.
Stage 2 bone cancer is high grade but has not spread. It is divided into 2A and 2B in the same way as stage 1.
Stage 3 bone cancer
This is bone cancer of any grade that has spread to other bones or any other body organ. The most common place for bone cancer to spread is the lungs.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the Treating bone cancer section.
The stage of a cancer tells the doctor how far it has spread. The tests and scans you have when diagnosing your cancer give some information about the stage. It is important because treatment is often decided according to the stage of a cancer. Your scans will give some information about the stage of your cancer.
There are different ways of staging cancers. The two main ways are the TNM system and number systems. There is more about staging cancers in the CancerHelp UK section about cancer.
The TNM system can be used for bone cancer. But the most commonly used system for bone cancer divides them into 3 stages - from 1 to 3.
In practice, doctors group bone tumours into
- Those that are low grade and haven't spread (localised)
- Those that are high grade and haven't spread (localised)
- Those that have spread to another part of the body (metastasised)
This grouping is based on how much treatment these cancers need and the likely outcome. If they are localised, they are easier to get rid of completely than if they have spread to another body organ. But the grade of the cancer cells is also very important.
Doctors grade cancer cells according to the appearance of the cells under a microscope. There are two grades for bone cancer cells. If the cells are cancerous, but don't look very different to normal cells, they are low grade. If the cells look very abnormal they are called high grade. High grade tumours are more difficult to treat than low grade. The more abnormal the cells are, the faster growing the cancer is likely to be and it is more likely to spread.
Pathologists and bone cancer specialists have more detailed and scientific ways of classifying the cells than we have gone into here. Among other things, they look at the size and appearance of the control centre of the cell (the nucleus). There is detailed information about grade in the about cancer section of CancerHelp UK.
There are 3 number stages of bone cancer - stage 1, 2, and 3. These are divided into 1A and 1B and so on. The staging is partly based on the grade of your cancer. And partly on how far it has grown.
Stage 1 bone cancer
Stage 1 bone cancer is cancer that is low grade and has not spread to other bones or any other body organ. If you have this stage of bone cancer, you may just have surgery to remove the cancer.
Stage 1A means low grade bone cancer that is still completely inside the bone in which it started. It may be pressing on the bone wall and causing a swelling, but has not grown through it. This is called an 'intracompartmental bone cancer'.
Stage 1B bone cancer is low grade, but has grown through the bone wall. This is called an 'extracompartmental' bone cancer. This just means it has grown out of the area (compartment) of the bone where it started.
Stage 2 bone cancer
Stage 2 bone cancer is high grade, but has not spread to other areas of bone or any other body organ. All Ewing's sarcomas are high grade, so there are no stage 1 Ewing's sarcomas. Because the cancer is high grade and fast growing, your specialist is likely to recommend chemotherapy along with surgery to remove the cancer. For Ewing's sarcoma, radiotherapy may also be used.
As with stage 1, there are 2 further groups: stage 2A and 2B.
Stage 2A means the cancer is still completely within the bone where it started. Your doctor may call this an intracompartmental cancer.
Stage 2B cancers have grown through the wall of the bone into nearby tissues. Your doctor may call this an extracompartmental cancer. This just means it has grown out of the 'compartment' where it started.
Stage 3 bone cancer
This is bone cancer of any grade that has spread to other bones or another body organ. The most common area for bone cancer to spread is the lungs. The second most common area for it to spread is to other bones.
Increase text
Decrease text
Print this page
