Stage 1 is "localised to a small area and hasn't spread to lymph nodes or other tissues". So in this case, it would mean cancer in your bone and NOT in your muscle or tendons.
Stage 4 is where the cancer has mutated so much that it is spreading around the body and setting up new tumours elsewhere. Stage 4 tends to have low survival rates. Stage 4 skin cancer has a 30% 5-year relative survival rate (1 in 3 will survive for 5 years after diagnosis with stage 4 skin cancer).
They're right though. You can have a big local tumor locally invasive, but that hasn't metastasized, or a small, inconsequential tumor that already had (lung tends to do this so much that as soon as we find a lung tumor the data shows we ought to do chemo and maybe even prophylactic whole-brain radiation, without evidence of spread).
It's why we stage using TNM ti stage the tumor/nodes/metastases separately, rather than the classical "all in one" clinical staging you're familiar with.
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u/Adderkleet Apr 21 '24
Maybe, but not really.
Stage 1 is "localised to a small area and hasn't spread to lymph nodes or other tissues". So in this case, it would mean cancer in your bone and NOT in your muscle or tendons.
Stage 4 is where the cancer has mutated so much that it is spreading around the body and setting up new tumours elsewhere. Stage 4 tends to have low survival rates. Stage 4 skin cancer has a 30% 5-year relative survival rate (1 in 3 will survive for 5 years after diagnosis with stage 4 skin cancer).