Mesothelioma

International staging system for diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma[51]Rusch VW. A proposed new international TNM staging system for malignant pleural mesothelioma. From the International Mesothelioma Interest Group. Chest. 1995 Oct;108(4):1122-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7555126?tool=bestpractice.com [52]Edge SB, Greene FL, Byrd DR, et al., eds. AJCC cancer staging manual. 8th ed. New York, NY: Springer; 2017.

Developed by the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG), and adopted by the American Joint Committee on Cancer, this staging system accurately correlates prognosis with disease burden, but is complex and cumbersome. It describes the extent of disease based on the following anatomic factors: size and extent of the primary tumor (T); regional lymph node involvement (N); and presence or absence of distant metastases (M).