A patient has carcinoma of the right tongue on its lateral border of anterior 2/3rd, with lymph node of size 4 cm in level 3 on the left side of the neck, stage of the disease is -: (A) N0, (B) N1, (C) N2, (D) N3
Answer is C. According to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), 2002, the regional lymph node staging (N) is common to all head and neck sites, except the nasopharynx.
So, T classification is specific to different sites of origin while regional lymph node (N) staging is common to all head & neck sites, except the nasopharynx.