Nell, they actually have to retrieve some cells to do some tests on them, to determine the next course of treatment, if any. When you know you have "cancer of the xyz" there are still more dimensions to that type of cancer. Let me see if I can remember the grade progression.
Here's the grade dimension. Grade 1 is fast growing, through Grade 4 which is slow growing. Fast growing tumors are very responsive to chemo, because they absorb lots of the chemo drug. Grade 4, are tougher to treat since they grow more slowly.
Then there is another dimension called Stage. I don't remember if they used numbers for this dimension but let's assume so. Stage 1 is the very beginning of true cancer (not just a tumor). Stage 4 is late stage cancer and it may have spread to the rest of the body. The stage is mainly used to tell the difference between early and late stage cancers.








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