Comment on an external validation of the 8th edition of the TNM classification for lung cancer staging in patients treated with chemoradiation

More than half a century ago, Dr. Pierre Denoix devised the tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) staging system of classifying cancer patients into distinct categories based on the anatomical extent of the tumor. Ever since, it has been adopted as the basis for estimating prognosis and selecting treatment in solid tumors. The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the American Joint Committee for Cancer (AJCC) initially developed independent TNM classifications which were unified in 1987 for a single, consistent stage classification system.