Staging applies to nearly all cancers apart from leukaemia.
Generally, cancer is divided into four stages:
- Stage 1 – the cancer is small and only in one place in the body;
- Stage 2 or 3 – the cancer has spread into parts of the body close to where it started;
- Stage 4 – the cancer is large or may have spread to other parts of the body.
Different cancers have specific staging systems.
The doctors will talk to you about your child’s situation and explain what it means.
If the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body it is known as secondary or metastatic cancer.