Problems with the Clinical Staging of Carcinoma of the Cervix

The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics staging system for carcinoma of the cervix divides patients into groups with differing mean survival rates but ignores important prognostic variables, such as tumor size and lymph node involvement, that are used by clinicians to select patients for different treatment approaches. The influence that this may have on our ability to interpret the clinical literature as well as ambiguities introduced by the staging system itself and by some clinicians' failure to adhere to the rules for clinical staging are discussed.