The second phase of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging Projects culminates with the publication of the second edition of the IASLC Staging Manual in Thoracic Oncology and the IASLC Staging Handbook in Thoracic Oncology. During these eight years since 2009, new datasets have been designed to register data on patients with lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma and thymic tumours, and a memorandum of understanding was agreed with Dr. Thomas W. Rice, from the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA, for an educational association to promote and disseminate the tumour, node and metastasis (TNM) classification of oesophageal cancer based on a new database of cases registered by the Worldwide Esophageal Cancer Collaboration (WECC).