The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) recently celebrated the completion of the 8th edition of its Cancer Staging Manual.
The AJCC Cancer Staging Manual defines an international language for oncology. Created with and adopted by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the AJCC-UICC TNM Cancer Classifications enables communication between eye cancer care providers all over the world. The manual brings together all currently available information on staging of cancer, and incorporates newly acquired knowledge on cancer etiology and pathology.
The AJCC Cancer Staging Manual:
- Enables communication within the local health care team.
- Makes patient education more effective.
- Improves clinical and patient-related decision making.
- Allows for quality measurements.
- Improves clinical research.
On September 9, a meeting was held at the American College of Surgeons headquarters in Chicago, Illinois to celebrate the completion and publication of the Manual. It was the culmination of a 5-year effort to create the best possible evidence-based cancer classification system.
Paul T. Finger, MD attended the meeting, representing the 54 Ophthalmic Oncology Task Force (OOTF) members who volunteered countless hours toward making the best possible, consensus-based eye cancer staging system. As Chair of the OOTF, Dr. Finger was primarily responsible to the AJCC for eight chapters submitted for publication.
“This is a unique text that offers the best possible consensus of medical fact and opinion, and most importantly it has been generated by a broad representation of our subspecialty,” Dr. Finger said. “We covered all aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of eye cancer. Everyone who cares for patients with eye cancer should read this book.”
The AJCC is comprised of 20 members including the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and other organizations focused on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
The 8th edition AJCC staging manual is available for pre-order on Amazon.
Members of the Ophthalmic Sites Expert Panel
Daniel M. Albert, MD, MS
Anush G. Amiryan, MD
Claudia Auw-Hädrich, MD
Diane Baker, CTR
Raymond Barnhill, MD, MSc
José M. Caminal, MD, PhD
William L. Carroll, MD
Nathalie Cassoux, MD, PhD
Jaume Catalá-Mora, MD
Guillermo Chantada, MD
Patricia Chévez-Barrios, MD
R. Max Conway, MD, PhD, FRANZCO
Sarah E. Coupland, MBBS, PhD – Vice Chair
Bertil E. Damato, MD, PhD
Hakan Demirci, MD
Laurence G. Desjardins, MD
François Doz, MD, MSc
Jonathan J. Dutton, MD, PhD, FACS
Bita Esmaeli, MD, FACS
Paul T. Finger, MD, FACS – Chair
Brenda L. Gallie, MD, FACSC
Gerardo F. Graue, MD
Hans E. Grossniklaus, MD – CAP
Steffen Heegaard, MD
Leonard M. Holbach, MD
Santosh G. Honavar, MD, FACS
Martine J. Jager, MD, PhD
Tero Kivelä, MD, FEBO
Emma Kujala, MD
Livia Lumbroso-Le Rouic, MD
Ashwin C. Mallipatna, MBBS, MS, DNB
Giulio M. Modorati, MD
Francis L. Munier, MD
Timothy G. Murray, MD, MBA, FACS
Anna C. Pavlick, MS, DO
Jacob Pe’er, MD
David E. Pelayes, MD, PhD
Gaelle Pierron
Victor G. Prieto, MD, PhD
Manuel Jorge Rodrigues, MD
Svetlana Saakyan, MD
Wolfgang A.G. Sauerwein, MD, PhD
Ekaterina Semenova, MD
Stefan Seregard, MD
Carol Shields, MD
E. Rand Simpson, MD, FRCS(C)
Arun D. Singh, MD
Shigenobu Suzuki, MD, PhD
Mary Kay Washington, MD, PhD
Valerie A. White, MD, MHSc, FRCPC
Michelle Williams, MD
Matthew W. Wilson, MD, FACS
Christian W. Wittekind, MD – UICC
Vivian Yin, MD, MPH, FRCSC
