Staging is a critical element in treatment planning and should be clearly documented in the patient’s medical record.

Preoperative staging, including the investigations listed in section 3.1, is used to define the extent of tumour spread and to determine neoadjuvant therapy use.

• Clinical pathological staging will occur after surgery and is needed to inform post-treatment care.
• Synoptic reporting is recommended.
• Screen for loss of expression of MMR protein in all patients at the time of biopsy and after tumour resection.

Visit the Cancer Institute New South Wales website for information about understanding the stages of cancer.