Lung cancer staging

Some of the tests used to diagnose lung cancer are also used to "stage" it, or determine the degree to which it has spread. Treatment and prognosis will depend on the stage of the cancer. Staging varies by the type of lung cancer.

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• Small cell lung cancer: SCLC has two stages, limited and extensive. Limited SCLC is confined to one side of the chest and to nearby lymph nodes. Extensive SCLC means that the tumor has spread to the other lung, to other parts of the body, or to lymph nodes on the opposite side of the chest.
• Non-small cell lung cancer: The NSCLC staging system factors in the primary tumor, local lymph nodes, and other organs to which the cancer might have spread. It uses a numerical scale, ranging from "early stage" (or Stage I, in which the cancer is confined to the lung only, and Stage II, in which the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes or the chest wall, diaphragm, tissue surrounding the heart, or membrane covering the lungs) to "locally advanced disease" (Stage III, in which the cancer spreads to lymph nodes between the lungs or the opposite side of the chest or neck) and "metastatic disease" (or Stage IV, in which the cancer has spread to other areas of the body or the other side [or lobe] of the lungs).