Why is staging in lung cancer important?
Staging is vital because it… • provides info on the size of your tumor and if there are cancerous cells in the lymph nodes near the lung • helps your doctor in coming up with a prognosis – what you might expect and how you will do as the tumor progresses • helps determine if the tumor has spread beyond your lung and if prevention of metastasis is possible • provides an estimate of survivability as well as risk for recurrence of the tumor and • helps your doctor recommend what type of treatment is appropriate because treatment for different lung cancer stages is specific to each stage. Click here for information on various treatments for lung cancer. Are stages the same for the 2 types of lung cancer? Stages are different for the 2 types – the non-small cell (NSCL) and small cell (SCLC) types. The NSCLC uses the TNM staging system which describes tumor in stages 1 to 4: Stage 1 Non small cell lung cancer in stage 1 is… • still tiny and confined to original site in your lung and • no
