Staging brain and spinal cord tumours

Staging is a way of describing or classifying a cancer based on the extent of cancer in the body. Extent means how far the cancer has spread.

There is no standard staging system for brain and spinal cord tumours because they rarely spread to other parts of the body.

The World Health Organization (WHO) grading system is used for classifying brain and spinal cord tumours in Canada. The most important factors in describing a brain or spinal cord tumour are the grade, type and location of the tumour.

A recurrent brain or spinal cord tumour means that the tumour has come back after it has been treated. It can come back in the same location as the original tumour or in other areas of the central nervous system.