Step 1: Information about You and Your Cancer

All of the information below is helpful for estimating your survival.

None of the information you provide is stored or retained by this tool.

It is used only during this session to calculate results.

Your Characteristics

Race/EthnicityMore Info
Marital StatusMore Info
Place of Residence Why is this needed? - Pending Address -

Cancer Characteristics

If you are a person diagnosed with cancer, your health care professional can help you fill these out.

Sources of Information for StagingMore Info
Assessment of tumor - TMore Info Assessment of regional nodes - N More Info
- Pending calculation -

You will be walked through the stage calculation using the AJCC 6th edition staging system because that is what is used in the SEER cancer registry for the included cases.

GradeMore Info

If address is available, it can be used to determine socioeconomic group.

Note: This information is used only to look up characteristics of the area in which the patient lives and how those characteristics affect survival. Neither the address nor the specific locale where the patient lives will be stored by this tool.


Cancer staging is a system doctors and researchers use to group similar cancers, which makes it easier to communicate about and study them. Size and other information are combined to give a number: I, II, III or IV. Grouping cancers this way lets us predict how the cancers might act in the body, and helps researchers when they are trying to discover new treatments. When a cancer is described as stage IV, that sometimes means it is not considered curable. In the case of oral cavity cancer, not all stage IV cancers are incurable.

- Pending Calculation -