. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Nov 15.

Published in final edited form as: Anticancer Res. 2017 Mar;37(3):1213–1218. doi: 10.21873/anticanres.11436

Table I.

Staging and classification of patients with CRC according to National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Colon Cancer (emedicine.medscape.com). Each classification type was represented by one patient.

Stage	Classification
IV	T2N2bM1: Tumor invades muscularis propria; metastasis in 7 or more regional lymph nodes; distant metastasis.
	T3N0M1: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; no regional lymph node metastasis; distant metastasis.
	T3N1bM1: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; metastasis in 2–3 regional lymph nodes; distant metastasis.
IVA	T3N0M1a: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; no regional lymph node metastasis; metastasis confined to 1 organ or site (e.g. liver, lung, ovary, nonregional node).
	T3N1bM1a: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; metastasis in 2–3 regional lymph nodes; metastasis confined to 1 organ or site (e.g. liver, lung, ovary, nonregional node).
	T3N2aM1a: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; metastasis in 4–6 regional lymph nodes; metastasis confined to 1 organ or site (e.g. liver, lung, ovary, nonregional node).
	T3N2bM1a: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; metastasis in 7 or more regional lymph nodes; metastasis confined to 1 organ or site (e.g. liver, lung, ovary, nonregional node).
	T4aN0M1a: Tumor penetrates to the surface of the visceral peritoneum; no regional lymph node metastasis; metastasis confined to 1 organ or site (e.g. liver, lung, ovary, nonregional node).
	T4aN1aM1a: Tumor penetrates to the surface of the visceral peritoneum; metastasis in 1 regional lymph node; metastasis confined to 1 organ or site (e.g. liver, lung, ovary, nonregional node).
IVB	T3N0M1b: Tumor invades through the muscularis propria into the pericolorectal tissues; no regional lymph node metastasis; metastases in more than 1 organ/site or the peritoneum.