Stages of parathyroid cancer
Staging describes or classifies a cancer based on how much cancer there is in the body and where it is when first diagnosed. This is often called the extent of cancer. Many types of cancer have standard staging systems, but parathyroid cancer does not.
When describing the stage of parathyroid cancer, doctors usually use the words localized, metastatic or recurrent.
Localized means the cancer is in a parathyroid gland. It may have spread to nearby tissues, such as the muscle or the thyroid.
Metastatic means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body (called distant metastasis) such as to lymph nodes, the lungs or bone.
Recurrent means the cancer has come back after it has been treated. If it comes back, it is most often in the tissues or lymph nodes in the neck. It can also come back in another part of the body (called distant recurrence).
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