Staging for renal cell carcinoma (7)
| Category | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T — Primary tumour | ||||
| T1 | Tumour ≤ 7 cm in greatest dimension, limited to the kidney | |||
| T1a | Tumour ≤ 4 cm | |||
| T1b | Tumour > 4 cm but ≤ 7 cm | |||
| T2 | Tumour > 7 cm in greatest dimension, limited to the kidney | |||
| T2a | Tumour > 7 cm but ≤ 10 cm | |||
| T2b | Tumour > 10 cm but limited to the kidney | |||
| T3 | Tumour extends into major veins or perinephric tissues but not into ipsilateral adrenal gland and not beyond the Gerota fascia | |||
| T3a | Tumour extends into the renal vein or its segmental branches, or invades the pelvicalyceal system, or perirenal or renal sinus fat | |||
| T3b | Tumour grossly extends into the vena cava below the diaphragm | |||
| T3c | Tumour grossly extends into the vena cave above the diaphragm or the wall of the vena cava | |||
| T4 | Tumour invades beyond the Gerota fascia (including contiguous extension into the ipsilateral adrenal gland) | |||
| N — Regional lymph nodes | ||||
| N0 | No regional lymph node metastasis | |||
| N1 | Metastasis in regional lymph node(s) | |||
| M — Distant metastasis | ||||
| M0 | No distant metastasis | |||
| M1 | Distant metastasis | |||
| TNM stage grouping | ||||
| Stage I | T1 | N0 | M0 | |
| Stage II | T2 | N0 | M0 | |
| Stage III | T3 | N0 | M0 | |
| T1, T2, or T3 | N1 | M0 | ||
| Stage IV | T4 | Any N | M0 | |
| Any T | Any N | M1 | ||
Note: TNM = tumour, node, metastasis.