["Grading" and "staging". Significance for clinical oncology]

"Grading" and "staging" means histological classification of tumors, determination of the histological grade of malignancy, clinical and, if possible, surgical-evaluative or postoperative pathological TNM classification and stage classification of tumor patients. Grading and staging are necessary for prognosis, for evaluation of diagnostic standard, for statistical analysis of end results and for therapeutic decisions. The prerequisites for a modern cancer therapy are meticulous histological examination, exact morphological classification of tumor extension, and histological grading of tumors. Therefore, today's pathologist not only diagnosis cancer but also he has an important responsibility in determining the methods of cancer therapy in each individual patient.