How do doctors determine what stage of cancer you have? - Hyunsoo Joshua No and Trudy Wu

Explore the three variables that inform a cancer’s stage number, and how different types of cancer can impact the staging.

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Each year, approximately 20 million people receive a cancer diagnosis. At that time, a patient usually learns their cancer’s stage, which is typically a number ranging from one to four. While staging is designed, in part, to help patients better understand what they’re facing, the number can be confusing. So, what do cancer stages actually mean? Hyunsoo Joshua No and Trudy Wu explain.

Lesson by Hyunsoo Joshua No and Trudy Wu, directed by Jess Mountfield.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li, Cristóbal Moenne, Dawn Jordan, Prasanth Mathialagan, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario, Dominik Kugelmann - they-them, Siamak Hajizadeh, Ryohky Araya, Mayank Kaul, Christophe Dessalles and Heather Slater.

[omarrochet]

Scariest thing about cancer is that it’s your body’s own system gone awry, it’s not an external threat looking for you like a virus or a bacteria that you can just eliminate quickly.

[iiiii]

7months ago i lost both my parents, my mom due to cancer and my dad after just 2 days of my mom passing away due to heart attack because of how sad he was, im a 4year med student and ive decided to become an oncologist because i don't want anyone to go through what my beautiful mom went through, i h cancer and ill do all my best to help preventing it

[Anthony_thom]

Battled stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year. Been cancer free coming up on 1 year this month. Thankful everyday that I’m still around for my kids.

[captaintutan]

Same case with my mother. Her stomach ached and we brought her to hospital. After checking up with doctors and a series of med tests, she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She passed after 2 months just as the oncologist predicted. She was doing pretty well before. I hate cancer i hope there would be a time when it can be cured or prevented easily. God bless every cancer patient. I know its tough but fight on.

[jeffinjacobsunny]

My aunt has beaten cancer thrice and now she's being tested for the fourth time. The test result comes tomorrow hopefully its nothing but false alarm 🤞
Edit:
Sorry for the late reply guys. Results are out and she's cancer free. The doctor said even though there is suspicion of cancer cell growth in the kidney, the chances are really minor. As you can't take biopsy of there due to risk of bleeding he recommended doing the test again after 2-3 months to detect growth if any. Thank you all for the prayers 🙏

[markh]

I was sent to the ER and diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. The doctor told me this, handed me some papers and left the room. He didn't tell me what to do next, just left. I walked out of their knowing that I had maybe 6 months to live. I then went to the VA and was checked again and was told I had Chronic Pancreatitis which needed surgery. That happened in 2021. Always get a second opinion. I was in shock for several weeks after the first diagnosis.

[medusagorgon]

Cancer is absolutely horrid. My mother found out 19 days before her death that she had two cancerous tumors in her head. We were all completely stunned and horrified. Even the ER doctor was floored! Other than the fact that she suddenly had issues with writing by hand (that's why we were there), there were no other obvious indications that such a thing had occurred. We honestly thought she had a mild stroke.💔

[Tango_Mike]

On a side note, wording makes a HUGE difference. I battled with cancer for more than a decade, and not one of my doctors ever used the word cancer with me. Whenever we discussed, we would always use the more technical terms, even with treatment protocols, and this rationalization had a massive impact on how I dealt with it mentally. There's a lot of stigmatization around the word that makes everything a lot harder for the patients. Of course, there are cases that are terminal, but many aren't, and for those cases, people are often much stronger than they believe.

[sandraaalbk]

To all of you who Are fighting - i Hope you find light in the darkness

[GabrielaCenturionNeumann]

It is really fascinating how humans classify everything in an effort to understand it better. I hate cancer, but I love how people work hard to try to understand it and battle it better

[MissElleHerself]

my grandpa died of mouth/throat cancer associated with agent orange from his time in Vietnam last week. i appreciate this explanation very much.

[rubievale]

I've just lost my dad to bladder cancer. He had some small lesions in his lungs, but no major metastasis. I found out that the number one cause of bladder cancer is smoking, which surprised me, but makes sense when you think about it. Miss you pops

[xshinigamixmpx]

Reading some of these comments, I realise that I am truly so blessed; my Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer 8 years ago. He was told he would only survive 2-3 months, but still drives himself to his bi-weekly chemo sessions. 8 years of this, the awful side effects, the pain...he is definitely the strongest person I know 💪

[abhisheksharma]

Pancreatic cancer is lethal in most cases when compared to many other types of cancer. My dad died due to it and until a couple months before his death he looked totally fit. When his cancer was diagnosed it was already labelled stage four 😢.
It's a silent killer and I hope no one ever has to face it 😞

[waldirmoreira]

"Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one remembers to turn on the light". My father had cancer. He won.

[edbertgiosuan]

I lost my Father this 4th of July due to cancer. Tumor from lungs metastasized to the brain, his brain has two tumors causing endless headaches. He even described the pain as if he was being drilled in the temple. He is in a safe place now. No more pain pops.

[JayTee]

I work as an oncology nurse at a major hospital. This short video clip explained the stages of cancer very well. It's important to note that not all cancers are staged; for example, most leukemias are not staged. In the video, they used the TNM system to explain the stages, where T stands for tumors, N stands for lymph nodes, and M stands for metastasized. It's great to see how much cancer treatments have improved over the years.

[namjoonsconfetti]

My mother passed away 15 days after her cancer diagnosis this January. We didn't even get to know how it started, just some suspicions. She had just given birth to my baby sister 7 months ago, she was completely fine. Idk what happened but this is something I'd never wish upon anyone. The pain, the misery she had gone through, my heart aches for my mother. Too much suffering, she didn't deserve that! To all fighting this demon, please keep fighting!! Y'all are some bravest people I've ever met.

[ZakirahBhidia-jdfg]

Last year, mum was diagnosed with stage 3B colorectal carcinoma and did a sigmoidectomy. She was then offered chemotherapy which she refused and opted for natural therapy which included IV vitamin C, IV hydrogen peroxide and Ivomectin tablets. She also stopped sugar completely. We thought her cancer went away as there were no sign of cancerous growths.

Then this year, the cancer metastasised to her lungs and is now stage 4B colorectal carcinoma. She now had no choice but to do chemotherapy. She’s currently doing her 4th chemo. Her cancer marker (CA19-9) has dropped from 316 to 163 with Gods Mercy.

I also considered her diet and do the juicing for my mum everyday and introduced more vegetables into her diet. I also give her apricot kernels, green tea, soursop, essiac tea, and blackseed.

I pray that God showers his mercy and cures all those who are ill.

[wilsonxyz]

During my medical intern years, I learned that M1(with any T or any M) is stage IV, the easiest for solid tumor staging (but the saddest) 🙃