Cancer staging and what it means i was diagnosed as a t4 cancer patient, and have yet to be given a clear definition of that phrase. can anyone answer this? thank you

Staging : Staging of cancer is a confusing and changing set of rules that attempts to group cancers by increasing difficulty of cure. It is sometimes useful for statistics but can misguide patients and physicians. T4 staging is one of 3 parts of the system. T- relates to primary (initial) tumor size and location, n- stage relates to the number of lymph nodes that can be detected, m-stage relates to distant spread (metastasis). Each kind of tumor at each primary location has a different variation of the rules. If you search for the nccn web-site the specific rules (and standard recommendations) are available for both patients and physicians. A basic rule, taught to me by the first resident specialized radiation oncologist in the us, "we don't treat the stage, we treat the patient". In some stage 4 patients, the cancer is still curable so don't jump to any conclusions until your radiation oncologist or chemo-therapist have had a chance to explain your individual circumstances. Best wishes, hmj.

Depends: Staging is a way to classify a cancer that can dictate the prognosis and treatment strategies for that cancer. Here is a good resource to learn more: http://www.Cancer.Net/all-about-cancer/newly-diagnosed.