What is Lung Cancer Staging?
Before getting into the details of small cell lung cancer staging, let us first understand what is meant by staging. Staging helps a doctor understand the extent at which the cancer has spread. It also helps diagnose the size of tumor, the location of the tumor in lymph nodes and if the cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body. Based on the staging, the doctor decides the treatment that will help control the spread of cancer. Cancer is usually grouped into 4 stages, that is, stage 1 to stage 4. Stage 1 indicates the initial spread of cancer and stage 4 is the last stage. There are different number systems used called TNM (tumor, nodes and metastasis) staging system. This helps show the size of tumor, spread to lymph nodes and if the tumor has metastasized to other parts. However, in case of small cell lung cancer staging, a different system is used. This will be discussed in the following paragraph on small cell lung cancer stages. Small Cell Lung Cancer Stages Unlike the oth
