How is thyroid cancer staged?
Thyroid cancer is staged using the TNM method. T is the tumor size. N is the number of lymph nodes affected. M is the presence of distant metastases. The combination of different levels of T, N and M gives an overall disease stage. Individuals under the age of 45 with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (papillary/follicular) are stage I or II by definition. Those diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer are automatically stage IV to reflect the aggressiveness of their disease.
