Booklet: What You Need to Know about Skin Cancer
Update: July 1999

Stage Information

Once melanoma is found, more tests will be done to find out if cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. This is called staging. A doctor needs to know the stage of the disease to plan treatment. The following stages are used for melanoma:

Stage 0

In stage 0 melanoma, the abnormal cells are found only in the outer layer of skin cells and do not invade deeper tissues.

Stage I

Cancer is found in the outer layer of the skin (epidermis) and/or the upper part of the inner layer of skin (dermis), but it has not spread to nearby lymph nodes. The tumor is less than 1.5 millimeters (1/16 of an inch) thick.

Stage II

The tumor is 1.5 millimeters to 4 millimeters (less than 1/6 of an inch) thick. It has spread to the lower part of the inner layer of skin (dermis), but not into the tissue below the skin or into nearby lymph nodes.

Stage III

The tumor may be larger or smaller than 4 millimeters thick, may have spread to lower layers of the skin, may have additional tumor growths within 1 inch of the original tumor (satellite tumors), may have spread to surrounding lymph nodes, and may be actively spreading to nearby areas of the body.

Stage IV

The tumor has spread to other organs or to lymph nodes far away from the original tumor.

Recurrent

Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the original site or in another part of the body.

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