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.
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. esinglet@mdanderson.org
S Eva
SE
Singletary
Craig
C
Allred
Pandora
P
Ashley
Lawrence W
LW
Bassett
Donald
D
Berry
Kirby I
KI
Bland
Patrick I
PI
Borgen
Gary
G
Clark
Stephen B
SB
Edge
Daniel F
DF
Hayes
Lorie L
LL
Hughes
Robert V P
RV
Hutter
Monica
M
Morrow
David L
DL
Page
Abram
A
Recht
Richard L
RL
Theriault
Ann
A
Thor
Donald L
DL
Weaver
H Samuel
HS
Wieand
Frederick L
FL
Greene
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