TABLE 3 Pathological TNM* and Staging of Malignant Thymic Tumors
From: Clinicopathologic and DNA Cytometric Analysis of Carcinoid Tumors of the Thymus
pT | |||
pT1 | Completely encapsulated tumor | ||
pT2 | Tumor breaking through capsule, invading thymus or fatty tissue | ||
pT3 | Tumor breaking through the mediastinal pleura or pericardium, or invading neighboring organs, such as great vessels and lung | ||
pT4 | Tumor with pleural or pericardial implantation | ||
pN | |||
pN0 | No lymph node metastasis | ||
pN1 | Metastasis in anterior mediastinal lymph nodes | ||
pN2 | Metastasis in intrathoracic lymph nodes excluding anterior mediastinal lymph nodes | ||
pN3 | Metastasis in extrathoracic lymph nodes | ||
pM | |||
pM0 | No distant organ metastasis | ||
pM1 | With distant metastasis | ||
Pathological stage grouping | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Primary Tumor | Lymph Node Status | Distant Metastasis | |
Stage I | T1, T2 | N0 | M0 |
Stage II | T1, T2 | N1 | M0 |
Stage III | T3 | N0, N1 | M0 |
Stage IVa | T4 | N0, N1 | M0 |
Stage IVb | any T | N2, N3 | M0 |
Stage IVc | any T | any N | M1 |
