The Cancer Staging Tool

Cancer staging is important for treatment planning and review of outcomes, including screening, new diagnostic technologies and survival. Rules are complex and complete staging is rarely achievable in limited resource settings.

A few years ago, the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) developed a Microsoft Access-based staging tool. The tool calculates TNM and other site-specific cancer staging classifications from the basic data of the patients’ disease, entered by the registrar in a controlled fashion.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is now collaborating with NICR to convert the tool into a web application. Authorised users will be able to access the tool from any Internet-enabled computer, by web browser via a dedicated interface. In agreement with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), this tool will be available freely for non-profit use in limited resource settings.