Cervical Cancer Stages: Understanding Spread & Progression

Cervical cancer is staged from 0-4 to help doctors and other health care professionals understand how far it has spread and what tissues are involved. It also helps them monitor the cancer's development over the course of treatment.

• Cancer patient

Stage 0

• Stage 0, also called "cancer in situ," is the first stage of cervical cancer when abnormal cells are found only on the surface of the cervical lining. Abnormal cells have a high chance of turning into cancer cells.

Stage 1

• In Stage 1, actual cancer cells are present and have grown deeper into the cervix layers (beyond the surface), but they have not spread.

Stage 2

• Stage 2 means the cancer cells have spread beyond the cervix, either up into the entrance of the womb, down into the top of the vagina, or both. To be classified as Stage 2, the cancer cannot have reached the pelvic wall.

Stage 3

• Stage 3 cervical cancer has spread beyond the cervix to the rest of the womb and vagina and into the ligaments and tendons of the pelvic wall. It may have also spread up into the kidney and ureters, impairing function.

Stage 4

• Stage 4 is the most advanced stage, when the cancer has spread to other major organs, such as the bladder, rectum, lymph nodes and lungs.