Lung Cancer Staging Overview
Lung Cancer Staging Overview
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death related to cancer especially in the United States. The number one cause of this is cigarette smoking. For those who are expose to substances at work like tobacco smoke, asbestos, arsenic, radiation and some other chemicals are also at risk of developing lung disease.
A patient who is diagnosed to have lung cancer needs to undergo a treatment to be cured. Tests are being done first before the doctor can provide the available treatment options for the patient to determine the type of cancer and stage of the disease. This is where the lung cancer staging needs to be explained to the patient.
What is lung cancer staging? It is helpful for your oncologist to find out the type and stage of your disease before you are treated. It helps them understand how big the tumor is or if it has already spread to other parts of your body. It helps them locate the exact position of the tumor in lymph nodes. And with lung cancer staging they will be able to provide to your available treatment options.
Lung cancer is divided into two main types: non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Since the two cancer types are very different when it comes to behaviors in human body, oncologist designed staging systems for each type. Lung cancer staging is also different for each type and so thus the treatment.
Cancer has usually 4 stages. NSCLC type is also divided into 4 stages but has a different number system which is called TNM staging system. TNM is an acronym that stands for tumor, nodes and metastasis. It is used to stage virtually every type of cancer. This lung cancer staging system shows the size of the tumor, the spread of tumor on lymph nodes and if the tumor has metastasized to your other body parts. At the same time, your oncologist can provide you the available treatment options for your illness.
Oncologists however is not using the TNM staging for SCLC because it does not help them to describe the second cancer type. They have found out that it is more useful to divide SCLC into two stages: limited stage and extensive stage. This is due to the reason that this cancer type can spread very quick beyond the lungs. Generally, only radiation therapy is used to treat limited stage SCLC while chemotherapy treatment can help for both SCLC stages but guided with chemotherapeutic drugs.
These are only few information related to staging of lung cancer. Try visiting your doctor and you can ask them for further information about the staging of your illness. Early prognosis and treatment can prolong your survival rate.
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