The various mesothelioma stages can be difficult to understand when you're first learning about the disease. In the simplest sense, staging is the way that doctors determine how severe the cancer is. So, if you have a more advanced form of mesothelioma, the staging will be higher than if you had a less advanced case.

Many doctors will use a standard mesothelioma staging system in order to show a patient how advanced their disease is. These systems include:

Butchart Staging System

The Butchart mesothelioma staging system consists of:

• Stage I cancer present on only one side of the chest pleura
• Stage II the cancer has spread to the chest wall, heart, or esophagus as well as the other side of the chest pleura and possibly the lymph nodes
• Stage III - the diaphragm and the peritoneum are affected as is the chest and there are more lymph nodes
• Stage IV the mesothelioma cancer has spread to other organs as well

TNM Staging System

Sometimes known as the International Interest Group staging system, the mesothelioma stages in this system include:

• Stage I the cancer is only found in the mesothelioma of the lungs and nowhere else in the body
• Stage II the cancer has spread to the lining of the chest in addition to the lungs
• Stage III the mesothelioma cancer has spread to the first chest wall as well as the lining of the chest and lungs
• Stage IV the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, other organs of the body as well as the chest and the lungs

Brigham Staging System

The mesothelioma symptoms in the Brigham staging system are:

• Stage I tumor can be removed with surgery and cancer has not spread
• Stage II - lymph nodes also affected, but tumor still operable
• Stage III cancer is not operable, lymph nodes spread and into the abdominal cavity
• Stage IV cancer has spread throughout the body.

The most commonly used of the mesothelioma stages systems is the TNM for specialists in the field.

The exposure to asbestos is going to factor into the staging of the cancer and the spread of the disease. The more asbestos fibers you inhaled and the longer you have been exposed to asbestos the higher the likelihood that you will have a more advanced case of the disease.

These mesothelioma stages help you determine the course of action as well as the prognosis.