Staging of melanoma
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The aim of staging is to find out how much a cancer has grown and spread. Finding out the stage of the cancer helps doctors to advise on the best treatment options. It also gives a reasonable indication of outlook (prognosis). (See separate leaflet called 'Cancer Staging and Grading' for details)
The common staging system used for melanoma divides it into four stages:
- Stage one is when the melanoma is just in the top layer of skin, it is less than 1.5 mm thick, and there is no spread to anywhere else in the body.
- Stage two is when the melanoma is just in the top layer of skin but is over 1.5 mm thick, OR there are some cancer cells in nearby parts of the skin less than 5 cm away from the main (primary) tumour. There is no spread to other parts of the body.
- Stage three is when some cancer cells have spread to the nearby lymph glands (nodes), OR some cancer cells have spread to areas of nearby skin more than 5 cm away from the main tumour.
- Stage four is when some cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body such as the lung, liver, bone, etc.
Most cases of melanoma are diagnosed at stage one when there is a very good chance that treatment will cure the condition.
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