. 2011 Jun 13;6(6):e19557. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019557

Table 3. Definitions of T, N and M categories and their impact on the prognostic value of staging.

Category	Definition	Subgroups	Linear Trend X²	Likelihood Ratio X²	^*AIC
A	7th ed. T stage (n = 1343)	T1, T2, T3, T4a, T4b	171.755	201.840	8556.400
	7th ed. N stage (n = 1343)	N0, N1, N2, N3	184.258	194.901	8547.653
	7th ed. M stage (n = 1503)	M0, M1	112.316	133.065	10488.061
B	Number of 1 and 2 EMs (EM1) treated as T_EM stage (n = 1343)	T1, T2, T3, T4a, T_EM,T4b	201.580	235.795	8515.847
C	Number of 1 and 2 EMs (EM1) treated as N3 stage (n = 1343)	N0, N1, N2, N3	235.104	247.322	8508.678
D	Number of ≥3 EMs (EM2) treated as M1 stage (n = 1503)	M0, M1	153.143	179.471	10421.502

*AIC = Akaike information criterion;