The staging system most often used to describe the stages of cancer of the pancreas is the American Joint Committee on Cancer's (AJCC) TNM system. The T stands for tumor, the N for spread to lymph nodes and the M for metastasis.

T Stages
TX: Primary tumor cannot be assessed.

T0: No evidence of primary tumor.

T1: In situ carcinoma (the cancer has not spread beyond the pancreas and is smaller than 2 centimeters).

T2: Tumor has not spread beyond the pancreas but is larger than 2 centimeters.

T3: The cancer has spread from the pancreas into the duodenum, the bile duct, or other peripancreatic tissue (tissue directly around the pancreas).

T4: The cancer has spread beyond the pancreas into the stomach, spleen, colon or adjacent large blood vessels.

N Stages
NX: Lymph nodes near the pancreas cannot be assessed.

N0: Lymph nodes are not involved.

N1: Cancer has spread to lymph nodes.

M Stages
MX: Distant metastasis cannot be assessed.

M0: The cancer has not spread to distant lymph nodes (other than those near the pancreas) or to distant organs (no distant metastasis).

M1: Distant metastasis is present.

After the T, N and M stages of the cancer are determined, this information is combined and assigned a stage, from 0 to IV.

Stages 0 to IV
Stage 0: Tis, N0, M0

Stage I : T1 or T2 N0, M0

Stage II: T3 N0, M0

Stage III: T1 or T2 or T3 N1, M0

Stage IVA: T4, any N, M0

Stage IVB: Any T, any N, M1

Many oncologists use a simpler staging system for pancreatic cancer to help make treatment decisions. Under this system, cancer of the pancreas is classified as follows:

Resectable:
The surgeon is able to remove all the tumor large enough to be seen.

Locally advanced:
The cancer has spread to tissues around the pancreas in such a way as to prevent complete removal of the diseased area, although the cancer has not yet spread to distant organs. Most commonly in pancreatic cancer this situation occurs when the tumor invades major local blood vessels.