Carcinoma

In medicine, carcinoma is any cancer that arises from epithelial cells. It is malignant by definition: carcinomas invade surrounding tissues and organs, and may spread to lymph nodes and distal sites (metastasis). Carcinoma in situ (CIS) is a pre-malignant condition, in which cytological signs of malignancy are present, but there is no histological evidence of invasion through the epithelial basement membrane.

Staging

Carcinomas, like all cancers, are staged according to the extent of disease. The UICC/AJCC TNM system is often used, however for some common tumours, classic staging methods (such as the Dukes classification for colon cancer) are still used.

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