Table 2.
| 8th Edition | 7th Edition | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N Category | Number of tumor-involved regional lymph nodes and nodal metastatic burden | Presence of in-transit, satellite, and/or microsatellite metastases | Number of tumor-involved regional lymph nodes and nodal metastatic burden | Presence of in-transit, satellite, and/or microsatellite metastases |
| NX | Regional nodes not assessed (e.g. SLNB not performed, regional nodes previously removed for another reason) Exception: pathological N category is not required for T1 melanomas, use cN. |
No | Regional nodes not assessed (e.g. SLNB not performed, regional nodes previously removed for another reason) | No |
| N0 | No regional metastases detected | No | 0 | No |
| N1 | 1 tumor-involved node or in-transit, satellite, and/or microsatellite metastases with no tumor-involved nodes | 1 | No | |
| N1a | 1 clinically occult (i.e. detected by SLNB) | No | 1 with micrometastasis (detected by SLNB) | No |
| N1b | 1 clinically detected | No | 1 with macrometastasis (clinically detectable and pathologically confirmed) | No |
| N1c | No regional lymph node disease | Yes | – | – |
| N2 | 2 or 3 tumor-involved nodes or in-transit, satellite, and/or microsatellite metastases with 1 tumor-involved node | |||
| N2a | 2 or 3 clinically occult (i.e. detected by SLNB) | No | 2–3 with micrometastasis (detected by SLNB) | No |
| N2b | 2 or 3, at least 1 of which was clinically detected | No | 2–3 with macrometastasis (clinically detectable and pathologically confirmed) | No |
| N2c | 1 clinically occult or clinically detected | Yes | 0 | In transit metastases or satellites without metastatic nodes |
| N3 | ≥4 tumor-involved nodes or in-transit, satellite, and/or microsatellite metastases with ≥2 tumor-involved nodes, or any number of matted nodes without or with in-transit, satellite, and/or microsatellite metastases | ≥4 metastatic nodes, or matted nodes, or in transit metastases/satellites with metastatic nodes | ||
| N3a | ≥4 clinically occult (i.e. detected by SLNB) | No | – | – |
| N3b | ≥4, at least 1 of which was clinically detected, or presence of any number of matted nodes | No | – | – |
| N3c | ≥2 clinically occult or clinically detected and/or presence of any number of matted nodes | Yes | – | – |
SLNB, sentinel lymph node biopsy; –, No counterpart in AJCC 7th Edition.
Adapted from and used with permission of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), Chicago, Illinois. The original and primary source for this information is the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, 8th Edition (2017), published by Springer International Publishing (Gershenwald JE, Scolyer RA, Hess KR, et al. Melanoma of the Skin. In: Amin AB, Edge SB, Greene, FL, et al. (Eds). AJCC Cancer Staging Manual. 8th Ed. New York: Springer; 2017:563–585).
Adapted from and used with permission of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), Chicago, Illinois. The original and primary source for this information is the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, 7th Edition (2009), published by Springer Verlag (Balch CM, Gershenwald JE, Soong SJ, et al. Melanoma of the Skin. In: Edge SB, Byrd D, Compton C, et al. (Eds). AJCC Cancer Staging Manual. 7th Ed. New York: Springer; 2009: 325–344.