How do doctors stage cancers?

To determine the stage, information must often be compiled from different sources. For example, Xrays, CT scans, Ultrasounds, and MRI's are often used to get information about the spread of the disease.   

Doctors can also often use a bone scan to see if the tumor has spread to bone.

Knowing whether or not a cancer has spread to the lymph nodes is also a critical part of the staging process. Often, the best way to determine if a cancer has spread to the lymph nodes is to actually cut out pieces of these lymph nodes (this is called a lymph node biopsy) and then study microscopically whether or not the nodes contain cancer cells.

Often, a lymph node biopsy can be done as part of the initial workup.

Sometimes, the final staging cannot be completed before a surgical procedure has been done.  This is especially true when a lymph node biopsy cannot be done during the initial workup.

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