The "y" symbol: An important classification tool for neoadjuvant cancer treatment

The use of preoperative adjuvant therapy is becoming increasingly frequent for a number of tumors. Therefore, the pathologic classification after preoperative therapy may not reflect the true anatomic extent of disease before treatment. To indicate that the clinical or pathologic classification has been determined after preoperative therapy, the TNM classification of the International Union Against Cancer and American Joint Committee on Cancer includes a prefix "y," with yc used for clinical and yp for pathologic classifications. © 2006 American Cancer Society.