Staging for NSCLS

Staging describes the amount or seriousness of the lung cancer.  The staging of lung cancer is important tothe proper selection of treatment of lung cancer.

There are four stages of lung cancer. Stage I is when the tumor is relatively small and the cancer has not spread outside of the tumor itself. The most serious is stage IV, when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body or lung.  Staging is based on:

• Size and location of the primary tumor
• Lymph node involvement (spread of cancer into lymph nodes)
• Metastasis (spread) to other organs outside of the lung