The Best Oncologist TM

 

What Are the Causes for Lung Cancer?      Lung Cancer Epidemiology

 Lung Cancer Pathology     Metastatic Spread of Lung Cancer

How Lung Cancer is Diagnosed?       Staging of Lung Cancer

Treatment of Lung Cancer         References and selected reading

Staging of Lung Cancer

By: Dr. Nicola J. Nasser, MD, PhD                 

lung cancer staging schema

Stages of Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

NSCLC is classified according to the TNM system suggested by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). The staging system takes into account the primary tumor characteristics (T1-T4, see table below), lymph nodes involvement (N0-N3, see table below), and the presence (M1) or absence (M0) of distant metastasis.

Lung Cancer Staging

The combination of the different characteristics of the tumor (the specific T, N, and M) gives the stage of the disease in each patient. Presence of distant metastasis denotes stage IV disease. The TNM combinations indicating Stages I-III diseases are described in the table below.     

Lung Cancer Staging TNM

Stages of Small Cell Lung Cancer

Small cell lung cancer staging defines “limited” (limited to one hemi-thorax) versus “extensive” disease. Most patients present with extensive disease (60-70%), and about 30-40% with limited disease.

 

 

 

 
 
 

References and selected reading

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