Relevant changes in the AJCC 8th edition staging manual for oral cavity cancer and future implications

Diagnostic confirmation and staging of cancer are primary steps in cancer patients care. Since its inception, the TNM staging system has as its main focus on an essentially anatomic classification associated with survival endpoints. Ideally, it would allow the stratification of patients in risk groups that have clearly distinct survival outcomes based on anatomic and some nonanatomic variables but similar survival outcomes within each stratum.