Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events

The National Cancer Institute created common terminology criteria for adverse events to standardize the classification of adverse effects associated with medicines used in cancer therapy. The criteria utilizes a range of grades from 1 to 5 to rate the severity of adverse events. Specific conditions and symptoms may have values or descriptive comments for each level, but the general guideline is: 1 - Mild 2 - Moderate 3 - Severe 4 - Life-threatening 5 - Death