BACKGROUND The TNM staging system originated as a response to the need for an accurate, consistent, universal cancer outcome prediction system. Since the TNM staging system was introduced in the 1950s, new prognostic factors have been identified and new methods for integrating prognostic factors have been developed. This study compares the prediction accuracy of the TNM staging system with that...

BACKGROUND Objectives of this work are to (1) present an ontological framework for the TNM classification system, (2) exemplify this framework by an ontology for colon and rectum tumours, and (3) evaluate this ontology by assigning TNM classes to real world pathology data. METHODS The TNM ontology uses the Foundational Model of Anatomy for anatomical entities and BioTopLite 2 as a domain top-...

Carcinoma of the esophagus is classified according to the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) TNM staging system. The 7th edition of the UICC TNM staging system was published in 2009. This is the first study to compare the prognostic value of the TNM 6th and 7th editions in patients with esophageal carcinoma treated with chemotherapy followed by surgery. Two hundred forty-three patien...

Objectives: To (1) present an ontological framework for the TNM classification system, (2) implement a TNM ontology for colon and rectum tumors based on this framework, and (3) evaluate this ontology with a classifier for pathology data. Methods: The TNM ontology uses the Foundational Model of Anatomy for anatomical entities and BioTopLite 2 as a domain top-level ontology. General rules for the...

The role of extranodal metastasis (ENM) in TNM stage in gastric carcinoma (GC) is controversial. This study was aimed to make a detailed investigation of the prognostic significance and the role in TNM stage of ENM in GC. The patients with primary GC, who underwent gastrectomy with curative intention in West China Hospital from January 2005 to December 2011, were retrospectively enrolled. The p...

OBJECTIVES To compare chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) classification trees vs the seventh edition of the TNM classification for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and to assess whether CHAID classification trees might improve results obtained with the TNM classification. DESIGN Patient disease was classified according to CHAID classification trees and the ...

Objectives: To (1) present an ontological framework for the TNM classifi-cation system, (2) implement a TNM ontology for colon and rectum tumorsbased on this framework, and (3) evaluate this ontology with a classifier forpathology data. Methods: The TNM ontology uses the Foundational Model of Anatomyfor anatomical entities and BioTopLite 2 as a domain top-level ontology.Gene...

BACKGROUND Decision making for adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III colon cancer is based on the TNM system. It is well known that prognosis worsens with higher pN classification, and several recent studies propose superiority of the lymph node ratio (ln ratio) to the TNM system. Therefore, we compared the prognosis of ln ratio to TNM system in our stage III colon cancer patients. METHODS A tot...

Because of different prognosis of gastric cancer patients with the same T and N stages, the impossibility of N3 staging in patients with fewer than 15 removed lymph nodes, and the presence of stage migration phenomenon, the 6th edition TNM Staging System for gastric cancer was updated to the 7th edition TNM staging system in 2009. Despite some opposing views, the superiority of the 7th edition ...