# Stomach cancer staging (AJCC chapter 17)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/gastric-staging/  
OnCo record `gastric-staging` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Stomach cancer is staged by how deep it has grown through the layers of the stomach wall and how many nearby lymph nodes contain it, from stage I to stage IV, where it has spread to distant organs.

## Summary

AJCC chapter 17 covers the stomach and is an 8th edition chapter in the AJCC 2026 table. In the NCI's summary, stage IA cancer is in the mucosa and may reach the submucosa; later stages combine depth (submucosa, muscle layer, subserosa, serosa, nearby organs) with the number of nearby lymph nodes involved (1 to 2, 3 to 6, 7 to 15, 16 or more); stage IV means spread to distant parts of the body such as the lungs, liver, distant nodes or the lining of the abdomen. The Siewert and Lauren classifications describe location and histology, not stage. The stage descriptions are those in the National Cancer Institute's PDQ summary, which follows the AJCC tables.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: gastric cancer staging; stomach cancer staging

## Sources

- National Cancer Institute, Stomach cancer stages: https://www.cancer.gov/types/stomach/stages
- American College of Surgeons, AJCC Current Staging System 2026 (which chapters are 8th edition and which Version 9): https://www.facs.org/media/c5ik5tkr/ajcc-current-staging-system-2026.pdf

## Connected records

- terms: [AJCC stage (TNM staging manual)](https://onco.cc/terms/ajcc-stage/), [Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC)](https://onco.cc/terms/staging-systems/), [TNM staging](https://onco.cc/terms/tnm-staging/)
- cancers: [Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gastric/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/gastric-staging.json