a system of staging colorectal tumors based on evaluation of the depth of invasion of the carcinoma and the presence or absence of metastasis. The four stages are:
A, confined to the mucosa and submucosa;
B, invasion through the muscularis without lymph node involvement;
C, invasion through the muscularis with regional node metastasis; and
D, tumor metastasis to distant sites. See illustration.

Modified Dukes' staging system for colorectal cancer. From Aspinall and Taylor-Robinson, 2001.