Changes to skin cancer staging in American Joint Committee on Cancer 8th edition

• Main Authors: Ahmet Demir, Omer Faruk Unverdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
• Series: Turkish Journal of Plastic Surgery
• Subjects: american joint committee on cancer; melanoma; merkel cell carcinoma; skin cancer staging; squamous cell cancer
• Online Access: http://www.turkjplastsurg.org/article.asp?issn=1300-6878;year=2020;volume=28;issue=1;spage=65;epage=73;aulast=Demir

The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) has an irreplaceable importance with its guidelines for cancer staging. These staging procedures are carried out with retrospective and prospective analysis studies. In the light of the new data, there may be an increase or decrease in the staging of some skin cancer lesions, while some concepts are completely eliminated. In the 8th Edition of the AJCC Manual, which is published approximately 7 years after the previous edition, changes were made in line with the new data on skin cancers. The most prominent change for squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is the discrimination between “clinical (cN)” and “pathological (pN)” staging. The most prominent change for Merkel cell carcinoma is that “cN” and “pN” distinction has been introduced for both regional lymph node and distant metastasis. In terms of melanoma, it can be said that everything related to a tumor, a regional lymph node, and a distant metastasis have been changed. Given the fact that the next edition will not be released earlier than at least another 7 years, it is necessary to quickly become acquainted with this new edition for the benefit of treating and monitoring patients with skin cancer.