Table 2. Soft Tissue Sarcoma Committee of the Children's Oncology Group: Pretreatment Staging System
| Stage | Sites of Primary Tumor | T Stage | Tumor Size | Regional Lymph Nodes | Distant Metastasis |
| N0 = absence of nodal spread; N1 = presence of regional nodal spread beyond the primary site; X = unknown N status; M0 = absence of metastatic spread; M1 = presence of metastatic spread beyond the primary site and regional lymph nodes; T1 = tumor confined to anatomic site of origin (noninvasive); T2a = tumor extension and/or fixation to surrounding tissue (invasive), tumor ≤5 cm in maximum diameter; T2b = tumor extension and/or fixation to surrounding tissue (invasive), tumor >5 cm in maximum diameter. | |||||
| 1 | Favorable sites | T1 or T2 | Any size | N0 or N1 or NX | M0 |
| 2 | Unfavorable sites | T1 or T2 | a, ≤ 5 cm | N0 or NX | M0 |
| 3 | Unfavorable sites | T1 or T2 | a, ≤ 5 cm | N1 | M0 |
| b, > 5 cm | N0 or N1 or NX | ||||
| 4 | Any site | T1 or T2 | Any size | N0 or N1 or NX | M1 |
