Newest
edition’s precision medicine-based approach focuses on more individualized
treatment for cancer patients
CHICAGO
(October 6, 2016): The AJCC TNM Cancer
Staging Manual, Eighth Edition draws on newer understanding of cancer
biology concepts and emphasizes a more contemporary individualized approach to cancer
classification and treatment, building on its four decade-long traditional
population-based approach.
“We have been very mindful of molecular
advancements and their impact on cancer classification, prognostication and
treatment,” said Mahul B. Amin, MD, FCAP, about his team of authors. Dr. Amin
is the Editor-in-Chief of the Eighth Edition Staging Manual professor and chairman
emeritus, department of pathology and laboratory medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center, Los Angeles, and incoming chairman and endowed professor of the
department of pathology and laboratory medicine at University of Tennessee
Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN. He
said his team members “have been proactive to incorporate new relevant genomic
markers, for example, in breast cancer and oropharyngeal cancer, to build and
empower the traditional concepts of staging of cancer.” Dr. Amin added the
transition to include new molecular markers is a significant development in
this manual, and he believes it “will only grow exponentially in future staging
efforts to allow staging to be very contemporary, relevant and applicable in
clinical care of individual patients,” he said.
Cancer
staging provides those with cancer and their physicians the critical standards
for determining the best treatment approach for their disease, for defining
prognosis and the likelihood of overcoming the cancer once diagnosed. Since the
Seventh Edition of the manual was published in 2009, researchers and medical
practitioners have learned that genomic alterations drive cancer and may vary
considerably between tumors that, in the past, were thought to be in the same
category, Dr. Amin said.
The
Eighth Edition is effective for all cancer cases diagnosed on or after January
1, 2017; there is a mandatory requirement that American College of Surgeons
Commission on Cancer- accredited hospitals use the AJCC TNM system as the major
language for cancer reporting. This markedly updated and revised Eighth Edition presents evidence-based revisions for the
staging of cancer for a number of organ sites, which includes the rationale and
rules for staging; the definitions of tumor, lymph node involvement, and
metastasis; stage groupings; and histologic grade.
Another
exciting development to improve ease of access and use while assuring
consistency and accuracy of content critical for patient care is the investment
by the AJCC in importing the Eighth Edition content into a Component Content
Management System (CCMS) that can be distributed electronically through an
Application Programing Interface (API). Electronic health records software
vendors, cancer registry software vendors, and electronic application
developers will benefit from this digitally structured content by being able to
incorporate the content directly into their products when they license access
to the API. “This complex transformation from a print manual to a CCMS and API
was the culmination of a coordinated effort of the AJCC leadership and staff
under the direction of the Executive Director of the American College of
Surgeons,” according to David P. Winchester, MD, FACS, Executive Director of
the AJCC.
Dr.
Amin explained that 430 experts from 184 institutions in 22 countries on six
continents worked together to produce this powerful resource for patients and
physicians alike. “It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the best cancer
professionals from around the world to help set the new standards of cancer
classification and care for the next several years in our collective fight
against cancer,” he said. This collective effort will have a profound positive
impact on cancer care and will the updates will undoubtedly benefit cancer patients,
their care providers and the scientific and surveillance communities. The
manual was developed by the AJCC in cooperation with the TNM Committee of the
Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). The manual is available for purchase here: http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319406176.
Information
on licensing 8E content for electronic products through the API is available
through www.cancerstaging.org.
About the
American Joint Committee on Cancer
The
AJCC was established in 1959 to formulate and publish systems of classification
of cancer, including staging and end-results reporting, that will be acceptable
to and used by the medical profession for selecting the most effective
treatment, determining prognosis, and continuing evaluation of cancer control
measures. The AJCC is composed of 18
member organizations, and its activities are administered by the Chicago-based
American College of Surgeons.
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