Revision of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system for breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To revise the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system for breast carcinoma.


METHODS
A Breast Task Force submitted recommended changes and additions to the existing staging system that were (1) evidence-based and/or consistent with widespread clinical consensus about appropriate diagnostic and treatment standards and (2) useful for the uniform accrual of outcome information in national databases.


RESULTS
Major changes included the following: size-based discrimination between micrometastases and isolated tumor cells; identifiers to indicate usage of innovative technical approaches; classification of lymph node status by number of involved axillary lymph nodes; and new classifications for metastasis to the infraclavicular, internal mammary, and supraclavicular lymph nodes.


CONCLUSIONS
This revised staging system will be officially adopted for use in tumor registries in January 2003.
Singletary
S Eva
SE
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. esinglet@mdanderson.org
Allred
Craig
C
Ashley
Pandora
P
Bassett
Lawrence W
LW
Berry
Donald
D
Bland
Kirby I
KI
Borgen
Patrick I
PI
Clark
Gary
G
Edge
Stephen B
SB
Hayes
Daniel F
DF
Hughes
Lorie L
LL
Hutter
Robert V P
RV
Morrow
Monica
M
Page
David L
DL
Recht
Abram
A
Theriault
Richard L
RL
Thor
Ann
A
Weaver
Donald L
DL
Wieand
H Samuel
HS
Greene
Frederick L
FL
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy