What Are The Stages Of Cancer?

Cancer is a disease where the cells in an individual's body begin to grow excessively fast and out of control. This process causes damage and crowding out of healthy cells and robs the healthy cells of crucial nutrients required to keep them alive. Cancer occurs when a cell experiences damage that changes a part of the cellular DNA responsible for cell growth, multiplication, differentiation, and apoptosis. Once an individual is diagnosed with cancer, their oncologist must run further tests to determine how extensive and severe the cancer is. The stage of cancer will play a significant role in determining what methods are used for treatment and the patient's long-term prognosis. The clinical-stage of a patient's cancer is the stage of their cancer before undergoing any treatment and the pathologic stage is the stage of following treatment.