Stage of Tumor

The stage of the tumor is used to describe the size of the cancer, and how far it has spread throughout the body.

There are four general stages that are used to describe malignant parotid tumors:

Stage 1:
The primary tumor is small and contained in the parotid gland.

Stage 2:
The primary tumor is larger but has not spread outside the parotid gland.

Stage 3:
The tumor has spread to the parotid or regional neck lymph nodes.

Stage 4:
The tumor has spread outside the parotid gland to other areas of the body.