Lung Cancer Staging

Lung cancer staging plays an important role in treating patients and further researching lung cancer. Staging cancer is done with every type of cancer to help a doctor understand the course of treatment to take and to help develop a prognosis. Lung cancer staging has been developed through careful studies and based upon past patient information.

The current staging tools can give a pretty accurate source for treatment plans and prognosis.

What is Lung Cancer Staging?

Lung cancer staging is the process of identifying the extent of the cancer. Stages range from 0 to 4. At stage 0 a person has only pre-cancer cells, which means they do not have cancer. Progressing through the stages, stages 1, 2 and 3 represent that the cancer has spread within the lung area. At the most severe stage, stage 4, cancer has now spread outside the lungs to other areas of the body.

Research and past patient treatment have allowed for some standards to be set as to how to treat lung cancer based upon at what stage it is. However, before a stage can be determined the doctor will have to do tests to find out more about the patients condition.

Methods of Lung Cancer Staging

Lung cancer staging is done through a few different methods. These include:

Conventional chest radiography: This can determine the size of tumors. It can also show the presence of cancer within the chest wall.
Computed tomography (CT): Can show cancer in the chest, throat area, glands and liver. Can also show size of tumors.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): Can show the heart, blood vessels and other areas not seen by other tests. Shows locations and size of tumors.
Positron emission tomography (PET): Can distinguish between malignant and benign tumors. Can scan the whole body.

A doctor will usually start with less evasive tests and then based upon those may order further tests. The goal is to make lung cancer staging easy for the patient, but also as thorough as possible. Mistakes n staging can lead to unnecessary procedures or even possible misdiagnosis. Some doctors are hesitant to give patients a complete prognosis because there is still a large error rate in the lung cancer staging process.

Despite some issues, lung cancer staging is still the most reliable way to determine what treatment to give a patient and usually the most accurate way to formulate a prognosis. As more research is done and new information is found, lung cancer staging will continue to change and become even more accurate.

Unfortunately, no matter how advanced staging becomes, new treatments will be needed to help make the success of lung cancer treatment more effective. Lung cancer is slowly growing to become the number one cause of all cancer related deaths in the United States.

Other post you may be interested in reading: lung cancer facts and signs of lung cancer

Lung Cancer Staging

lung cancer stage

Lung Cancer Staging

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