An update on the staging of oesophageal and gastric cancers

•. The latest American Joint Committee on Cancer tumour, node and metastasis system (TNM7) counts tumours at oesophagogastric junction and the proximal 5 cm of the stomach as oesophageal.•. In TNM7:•. Tis has been redefined, and T4 has been subclassified into resectable and non-resectable tumours.•. The N staging has been expanded with groupings of number of cancer positive nodes.•. M1a and M1b have been eliminated.•. Gastric cancer T staging has been harmonised with other GI tract cancers.•. Gastric cancer N stage has been redefined with fewer involved nodes in each category.•. Positive peritoneal cytology in gastric cancer is now counted as M1.CT is in the initial investigation in the staging of oesophageal and gastric cancer with positron emission tomography (PET) CT and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) refining the staging.EUS is the most sensitive investigation in local staging of oesophageal tumours.PET-CT is valuable in identifying metastatic disease that may have been overlooked at initial CT interpret...