A Stadium is a large-scale architectural structure, its function mainly consists of serving as the stage for a sporting event, even a stadium defines its shape and capacity depending on the sporting discipline that is going to be developed in it. Different organizations at the world or national level manage together with the competent governmental institutions the creation of these buildings in order to house athletes, training equipment, fans and spectators. The most common and best known stadiums are soccer stadiums, about the world cups that are organized every 4 years and baseball, since they are the most practiced sports in the world. We cannot leave out the stadiums that are built or enabled for the Olympic games in which the largest number of disciplines are developed. The stadiums also serve as stages for singers shows, for concerts or some type of artistic presentation.
Outside the concept that we know of what a stage is, there is the medical term stage, which defines the stage in which a cancer is found making its effects on the body, below, an example of how the different stages develop in breast cancer, one of the most common in women of average age.
The American Joint Committee on Cancer uses the TNM staging system:
- The letter T, followed by a number ranging from 0 to 4, indicates the size of the tumor and its spread to the skin or chest wall below the breast. A higher number corresponds to a larger tumor and / or a greater spread to nearby tissues.
- The letter N, followed by a number from 0 to 3, indicates whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes near the breast and, if so, whether these nodes are attached to other structures.
- The letter M, followed by a 0 or a 1, indicates whether the cancer has spread to other distant organs.
The classification, for the subgroups, is made with numbers ranging from I to IV.
STAGE I: indicates that the tumor is smaller than 2 cm and there is no metastasis. The 5-year relative survival rate is 98%.
STAGE II: covers the following situations:
- It is not more than 2 cm but the lymph nodes in the armpit are affected.
- It measures between 2 and 5 cm and may or may not have spread.
- It measures more than 5 cm but the axillary lymph nodes are not affected. The 5-year survival rate is 88-76%.
STAGE III: it is divided into stage IIIA and IIIB:
Stage III A can include the following forms:
- The tumor is smaller than 5 centimeters and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes and these are attached to each other or to other structures.
- The tumor is larger than 5 cm and the axillary lymph nodes are affected. The 5-year relative survival rate is 56%.
Stage III B can occur in the following cases:
- The cancer has spread to other tissues near the breast (skin, chest wall, including ribs and chest muscles).
- Cancer has spread to lymph nodes within the chest wall near the breastbone. The 5-year relative survival rate is 46%.
STAGE IV: Occurs when cancer has spread to other structures in the body. The most frequently metastatic organs are the bones, lungs, liver, or brain. It may also be that the tumor has affected the skin locally. The 5-year relative survival rate is 16%.
