In light of Sen. Kennedy's brain tumor a few words about tumor grading and staging are in order. Tumor grading is a pathologic exercise. By that we mean a piece of the tumor is removed and prepared for microscopy for assessment. The degree of differentiation of the cells (decline in differentiation is bad), cell atypia and other features are graded. Tumors are graded on a scale of I - IV (sometimes I - III).
Grade I tumors are the least aggressive in their appearance under the microscope. Grade II tumors are of the intermediate type and Grade III tumors are those that appear most aggressive, poorly differentiated and atypical.
Cancer staging is different. Staging is a clinical exercise that evaluates the behavior of a tumor. It can be a better guide than grading a tumor when it comes to therapy or determining the outcome of the cancer. A common cancer staging method is the TMN system. T is for the size of the primary tumor; N is for the extent of local lymph node involvement and M is for distant metatases or spread of the tumor.
T is scored from 1 - 4, with T4 being any tumor that invades the chest (breast cancer being the example). T3 is any tumor larger than 5 cm. N is scored from 0 - 3, with N0 meaning no lymph involvement. N3 would be metastases to mammary lymph nodes located beneath the sternum.
M is scored 0 or 1 - no distant metastases or distant metastases observed.
There is no specific information about the grade of Sen. Kennedy's brain tumor other than that it is 'high grade' - not good. Persons with high grade, malignant gliomas typically have a year to live at best, especially in older people.
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Well I am not a liberal or a Teddy supporter but I do wish him the best. Today I saw the side of a conservative, who in a round about way, started to bring up the Mary Jo accident and drowning, I cut him off and did not want to listen, just stupid.
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