Lung cancer is usually confirmed with a biopsy. Your doctor will also determine the cancer type and how far it has spread.
When extensive small-cell lung cancer begins, you may not feel warning signs. Your doctor may discover it by accident.
If you're a smoker or have other risks for lung cancer, you may want to get a screening test.
If your doctor spots something out of the ordinary on your chest X-ray or CT scan, they may ask you to get a lung biopsy.
With a thoracentesis, a doctor uses imaging guidance to put a needle through your chest wall and into the pleural space.Â
Your doctor might suggest a mediastinoscopy to take out some of your lymph nodes if you have lung cancer.
If your doctor thinks you have NSCLC, they will usually look for a change in a gene called the EGFR gene.
There are two main types of lung cancer: small cell and non-small cell. Each is staged differently.
Stage I is the second-earliest stage of lung cancer. It means the abnormal cells in your airways have turned into cancer.
Stage II lung cancer is when one or more tumors are only in one lung. The cancer may or may not have spread to lymph nodes
Almost always, stage III cancer is in one lung. It’s also limited to lymph nodes, organs, and other tissue near that organ.Â
Stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer means it has spread to other areas of your body, such as the liver, brain, or bones.Â
If you have extensive small-cell lung cancer, this means the disease is already spread.