The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)

The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) is an organization that develops and regularly updates a standardized system for describing and staging cancer. This system helps doctors assess how advanced a cancer is, which guides treatment decisions and helps predict outcomes. The AJCC's staging uses specific criteria like tumor size, spread to lymph nodes, and presence of metastasis (spread to other parts of the body). Its goal is to ensure clear communication among healthcare providers and to improve consistency in cancer diagnosis, treatment planning, and research across different medical centers.