The 8th Edition American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging for Hepato-pancreato-biliary Cancer: A Review and Update

Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2021 May 1;145(5):543-553. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2020-0032-RA.

Abstract

Context.—: Cancer staging provides critical information for patients and treating physicians to battle against cancer, predict prognosis, and guide treatment decisions. The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system uses a tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) scoring algorithm and is the foremost classification system for adult cancers. This system is updated every 6 to 8 years to allow sufficient time for implementation of changes and for relevant examination and discussion of data validating those changes in staging.

Objective.—: To review the updates in the 8th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system on hepato-pancreato-biliary cancer.

Data sources.—: Literature review.

Conclusions.—: The 8th edition, published in 2016 and implemented on January 1, 2018, has been in use for approximately 3 years. Compared with the 7th edition, some of the changes are quite radical. This review aims to provide a summary of the changes/updates of the 8th edition with focus on hepato-pancreato-biliary cancers, and evaluate its performance through literature review.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biliary Tract Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Carcinoma / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Neuroendocrine Tumors / pathology*
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Practice Guidelines as Topic
  • United States