The Eighth Edition AJCC Cancer Staging Manual: Continuing to build a bridge from a population‐based to a more “personalized” approach to cancer staging
- Study type
- Review article
- Study name
- AJCC 8th Edition
- Design
- Commentary on the structural changes and new features of the 8th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual
- Source
- CA A Cancer J Clinicians · 2017
In plain words
Cancer staging means working out how far the disease has spread. It helps the doctor estimate the outlook and choose the right treatment. In the 8th edition of the AJCC staging manual, besides the size and spread of the tumour, other features, including molecular factors, have been added where there is strong evidence. The aim is for staging to fit each patient's own features more and more closely.
Study population
This paper is a commentary and no specific patients or population were enrolled.
Endpoints
It is not a clinical trial and has no defined endpoint. The aim of the paper is to highlight the organisational and structural changes and "what is new" in the 8th edition and to explain the rationale for the proposed changes.
Safety and side effects
In keeping with the nature of the paper, no safety or adverse-event data are reported.
Clinical significance and place in guidelines
According to the abstract, the 8th edition of the AJCC manual seeks to incorporate non-anatomical factors, including molecular ones, into staging, but only where strong evidence exists, thereby moving the TNM system from a population-based towards a more personalised approach. Details of the changes for each cancer are not given in the abstract, and the full text of the 8th edition should be consulted for staging each cancer type. The timing and manner of implementation of this edition in each centre or country should also be checked separately.
Limitations
This paper is a descriptive commentary and contains no analytical data or hypothesis testing. The abstract does not give details of the cancer-specific changes, which should be taken from the full text of the paper and the 8th edition manual itself.
This summary was prepared by the editorial team from the published paper; the original paper is the final reference. Read the original abstract on PubMed.