Colon Cancer Staging
Doctors use a system called staging to describe how much a cancer has spread to surrounding tissues or other parts of the body. The cancer stage is important when deciding on the most effective course of therapy.

Staging colon cancer usually includes some combination of the following tests:

• CT scan of the abdomen
• MRI scan of the abdomen
• Bone scan
• Carcinoembryonic antigen blood level
• Chest x-ray
• Complete blood count
• Lymph node biopsy
• Surgery with tissue biopsy