- Purpose
- Allow prognosis
- Guide surgical management
- Guide adjunctive therapies
- A compartment is an anatomically confining space which will resist tumour spread beyond its boundaries
- Intracompartmental
- Intraosseous
- Intra fascial compartments
- Superficial to deep fascia
- Parosseous
- Extracompartmental
- Extension beyond above
- Pelvis
- Popliteal fossae
- Cubital fossa
- Axilla
Musculoskeletal Tumour Society
Graded by grade, site and metastasis
| Factor | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Grade | G0 | Benign, encapsulated or reactive bone. Stage I latent, II active, III aggressive |
| GI | Low grade malignant. Pseudocapsule, microsatellites in reactive zone | |
| GII | High grade malignant. Microsatellites, skip mets beyond reactive zone, permeative margin, Codmans triangle | |
| Site | T0 | Intracapsular |
| TI | Extracapsular but intracompartmental | |
| TII | Extracapsular & extracompartmental | |
| Metastasis | M0 | No mets |
| MI | Skip, regional or distant mets |
- Compartment = anatomic structure forming barrier to extension, bone, cartilage or capsule
- Skip metastasis, nodules of tumour separated from primary lesion by an intervening zone of normal non-reactive tissue, are not the same as satellites found in the reactive zone
Benign
| Stage | Behaviour | Grade, site, metastasis |
|---|---|---|
| I | Latent | G0, T0, M0 |
| II | Active | G0, T0, M0 |
| III | Aggressive, e.g. giant cell | G0, T1 or II, MI or II |
Malignant
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| 1A | Low grade, intracompartmental |
| 1B | Low grade, extracompartmental |
| 2A | High grade, intracompartmental |
| 2B | High grade, extracompartmental |
| 3 | Metastasis |
Original publication Enneking WF, Spanier SS, Goodman MA. A system for the surgical staging of musculoskeletal sarcoma. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1980(153):106-20.
Reviewed by Professor Phong Tran, Head of Orthopaedic Surgery, Western Health. Last updated 10 October 2026.