Health Desk. Blood cancer is a serious disease in which abnormal cells start growing rapidly in blood-forming cells or their associated tissues. However, staging is not the same for all types of blood cancer. Different types of cancer, such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, are assessed differently. Therefore, the severity of every blood cancer cannot be decided only on the basis of stage 1 to 4.
What is the situation in Stage 1?
In some types of blood cancer, the disease occurs in limited areas in the early stages. During this period, many patients do not show any specific symptoms or signs like general weakness, fatigue, weight loss may be seen. If timely testing is done, the disease can be identified early.
The disease starts progressing in stage 2
In the second stage, cancer affected cells may appear in more than one part of the body. In cancers such as lymphoma, more than one lymph node group may be affected. In this situation, the doctor decides the extent of the disease and the treatment strategy on the basis of the test report.
Danger increases in stage 3
In the third stage, the disease may have spread to more parts of the body. In some lymphomas, lymph node involvement both above and below the diaphragm may indicate stage 3. Treatment at this stage may be more complex and specialist monitoring is necessary.
Why is stage 4 considered more serious?
In blood cancers that are usually classified as stage 4, the disease may have spread to distant organs or tissues in the body. For example, some lymphomas may affect organs such as the bone marrow, lungs or liver. So stage 4 is generally considered the more severe stage, but this does not mean that the possibility of cure is lost.
Not every blood cancer has 4 stages
This thing deserves special attention. The stage 1–4 system is not often used in leukemia. Doctors determine the type and risk of the disease based on blood tests, bone marrow tests, imaging and other reports. Whereas the use of staging is more common in lymphoma.