The Gold Standard In Cancer Staging

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice;  Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 05 Nov 2009 - 0:00 PST

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Physicians and health care professionals around the world need a tool to facilitate the uniform description and reporting of cancer. Proper staging is essential to determine appropriate treatment, evaluate results of management and clinical trials, and to serve as the standard for local, regional and international reporting on cancer incidence and outcomes. The newly published seventh edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, available from October 2009, brings together the relevant, evidence-based criteria for staging of cancer for 52 anatomic primary sites.

As knowledge of cancer biology expands, cancer staging must incorporate these advances. The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging System is the preeminent paradigm used by physicians throughout the world to diagnose cancer and determine the extent of disease.

The AJCC Cancer Staging Manual is the "home base" product, which includes the rationale and rules for staging, the background explanation of the changes between the sixth and seventh editions, the definitions of tumor, lymph node involvement, and metastasis, stage groupings and histologic grade for 52 primary cancer sites. The successful and equally clinically relevant spin-off products are the AJCC Cancer Staging Handbook, which features all the staging information offered in the Manual in a pocket-size book, and the AJCC Cancer Staging Atlas, offering a highly visual representation with hundreds of additional illustrations. The AJCC e-Staging Tool, a web-based staging application designed to help clinicians stage patients in the clinical setting from desktop, laptop or handheld device, will be launched in December 2009.

The Annals of Oncology made this evaluation of the 6th edition: "At present there is no other book available which gives such a complete detailed account of stage definition, prognostic factors, prognosis and diagnostic procedures for stage definition in a comprehensive way as the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual… This book is a 'must' for all involved in cancer diagnosis and treatment."

The AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, Handbook, and Atlas, published by Springer, are prepared by the American Joint Committee on Cancer in collaboration with its member organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and the American College of Physicians. These organizations work with the AJCC in the promotion of staging at the time of diagnosis in order to achieve better patient outcomes.

Stephen B. Edge, David R. Byrd, Carolyn C. Compton, April G. Fritz, Frederick L. Greene, Andrew Trotti (Eds.)

AJCC Cancer Staging Manual
2010. 7th ed. Softcover. $64.95, EUR 49.95, £44.99, ISBN 978-0-387-88440-0

AJCC Cancer Staging Handbook
2010. 7th ed. Softcover. $44.95, EUR 34.95, £31.99, ISBN 978-0-387-88442-4

AJCC Cancer Staging Atlas
2006. Softcover. $64.95, EUR 49.95, £44.99, ISBN 978-0-387-29014-0

Source: Joan Robinson
Springer