Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer and the most that can be found throughout the world. Although there are many ways you can develop this form of cancer, smoking increases the likelihood that much. However, there are different stages of cancer, and it is important to know what they are.
When diagnosed with lung cancer, patients are most likely to say no. Lung cancer is divided into 4 groups, numbered 1 through 4 Staging is referring physician and the patient how much the cancer has spread.
Stage 1: cancer is small and localized. No lymph nodes were diagnosed as having cancer. In phase 1 a Phase 1A and 1B. Stage 1A means that the tumor is smaller than 3 cm, and Stage 1B was from 3cm to 5cm.
Stage 2: Stage 2 is divided into stage 2A and 2B. Stage 2A means the cancer is between 5 cm and 7 cm, and no cancer was found in the lymph nodes. 2A might be that cancer is less than 5 cm, but there are cancer cells in lymph nodes. Phase 2B can mean several things:
° cancer is greater than 7 cm and no cancer cells in lymph nodes or
° cancer is between 5-7cm, and there are cancer cells in lymph nodes near the lungs or
° do not exist in the lymph nodes but has spread to either the chest, the muscle below the lungs, the nervous layer covering the heart or in the main airways close to where the shares in each lung
° lung cancer makes it collapse, or
° They can be any size, but there are more than 1 in the same lobe of the lung.
Phase 3: is also divided into A & B Stage 3 means the lung may have collapsed or become inflamed. By this time, has Stage 3 cancer cells that are larger than 7 cm and has spread to the chest / lung area or outside it.
Phase 4: Phase 4 is the most deadly. This means that the cancer in both lungs, and possibly spread to another part of the body. It can also be caused by fluid collection around the lungs or heart, and it contains cancer cells.
By understanding the stages of lung cancer, it is easy to determine treatment, if available, in order to combat this very scary disease.