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TNM staging method is considered as very vital for evaluating the progression of esophageal cancer. Once the disease is evaluated the doctors or the medical team in a combined manner develop a very efficient and effective course of treatment. Based on the severity of esophageal cancer, the TNM staging is categorized.

Apart from TNM staging of esophageal cancer, the other method classifies cancer based on the extent to which the disease has spread. Stage grouping starts from zero and ends at four. Stage grouping make use of roman numerals like I, II, III, IV and also 0 for describing esophageal cancer progression. It is also known as Roman Numeral Esophageal Staging. The stage 0 is to depict that the cancer in situ, stage I depicts that the cancer is restricted to the local parts to the origin of the tissues, stage II depicts spreading of cancer cells locally, stage III of esophageal cancer depicts that it is localized and regional in nature while stage IV esophageal cancer depicts that the cancer has spread to various other organs or to the full body.

TNM staging of esophageal cancer are ranked based on three parameters separately according to the tumor size, lymph node association and finally metastasis of the disease. The lower the number the lower the degree of the disease and when the number is higher it refers to the higher degree of disease. T is the term which denotes the primary cancerous cell size. T0 depicts that the cancer is seen at the main site, while the terms T1, T2 and T3 depicts the size of the cancerous cells that is increasing.

The N component of TNM staging depicts the degree of spread of the disease. N0 means no evidence is seen in the lymph node (regional) enlargement, the terms N1, N2 and N3 depicts the node involvement in the disease in the increasing degree.

The M element of TNM staging esophageal cancer denotes the metastasis of the disease. M0 denotes that no evidence or indication of the disease metastasis while M1, M2 and M3 denotes the spread of the disease in progression.

Apart from the above two stages of esophageal cancer, another method is also used for detecting the stages of cancer and they are known as the summary staging and grade system. The summary staging depicts the stages of the disease as situ, localized, regional, distant and unknown categories. According to grading system G is used for histopathological grading, GX is used when the differentiation of grade is not in a position to assess. G1 depicts well differentiated, G2 as moderately differentiated disease, G3 as poorly differentiated disease and G4 as undifferentiated disease.