Some cancers also have a zero stage. You often don’t notice it

28. Apr 2025 at 4:48 pm

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While most people have already heard that cancer has several stages, and the worst is the last – the fourth in which the disease spreads and attacks vital organs, many people do not know that there is an early stage of cancer.

It is known as stage 0.

Do this stage have all types of cancer? What makes it different from the other stages and why regular examinations are probably the only way to capture the zero stage of cancer?

What is the zero stage other

Although sometimes the determination of stages of cancer may be more difficult, experts are most often governed by the TNM system for the classification of malignant tumors, compiled by French oncologist Pierre Denoix in the 1940s.

It is a diagnostic method that oncologists still use today to identify the size and location of the tumor and how far the cancer cells have spread throughout the body.

Stage 0 occurs only for some types of cancer – indicates carcinoma In situa very early stage. This means that somewhere in the body, abnormal cells (sometimes called precancerous) have been identified, which « sit » only at the place of its inception and have not yet started to spread to the surroundings.

It’s called. non -invasive tumor, which, however, can grow into an invasive stage without treatment. The risk varies depending on the type and location of the tumor and generally arises from genetic changes or mutations in epithelial cells.

There are many different types of cancer in stage 0, depending on the type of tissue in which it began to form. US National Institute for Cancer (NCI) especially mentions the following:

• adenocarcinoma in situ (cervix, lung, colon),
• Ductal carcinoma in situ (breast),
• Spinocellular carcinoma in situ (skin, mouth and larynx).

In many other cancers, such as some leukemia, lymphomas or brain cancer, stage 0 is not mentioned at all.