TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours

The History of the TNM System The TNM System for the c1assification of malignant tumours was developed by Pierre Denoix (France) between the years 1943 1 and 1952. In 1950 the UICC appointed a Committee on Thmour Nomen clature and Statistics and adopted, as a basis for its work on clini cal stage c1assification, the general definitions of local extension of malignant tumours suggested by the World Health Organiza tion (WHO) Sub-Committee on The Registration of Cases of 2 Cancer as weIl as their Statistical Presentation. In 1953 the Committee held a joint meeting with the Interna tional Commission on Stage-Grouping in Cancer and Presenta tion of the Results of Treatment of Cancer appointed by the International Congress of Radiology. Agreement was reached on a general technique for c1assification by anatomical extent of dis ease, using the TNM system. In 1954 the Research Comrnission of the UICC set up a spe cial Committee on Clinical Stage Classification and Applied Statis ticsto "pursue studies in this field and to extend the general tech nique of c1assification to cancer at aIl sites". In 1958 the Committee published its first recommendations for the clinical stage classification of cancers of the breast and 1 Denoix, P.F.: BuH. Inst. Nat. Hyg. (Paris) 1: 1-69 (1944) and 5: 52-82 (1944).