Lung cancer is usually described in 4 stages.

Stage 0

In this stage, the cancer is not grown much. Cancer in this stage is called ‘ stu disease’. It might not be spread to the adjacent tissues or outside the lung.

Stage 1

In this lung cancer staging, the cancer might have developed into a small tumor. However, it might not have spread to any lymph nodes. Stage 1 of lung cancer has two sub stages- Stage 1A and Stage 1B. It is classified based on the size of the tumor. Those with smaller tumors (less than 3 cm) are considered in stage 1A and those more than 3, but less than 5 cm are considered to be stage 1B.

Stage 2

Stage two has two substages- Stage IIA and Stage IIB. A tumor larger than 5 cm and less than 7 cm and not spread to the adjacent lymph nodes are under stage IIA. Whereas in Stage IIB, the tumor will be larger than 5 cm but less than 7 cm, which might have spread to the nearby lymph nodes or the nearby structures.

Stage 3

Like stage 1 and 2, stage 3 has also divided into stage IIIA and stage IIIB. In many cases, it is impossible to remove the tumor in stage IIIA and stage IIIB. If the tumor has spread to the nearby lung structures or a lymph node outside the lung, it will be difficult to remove the tumor completely. The surgery may need to perform a bit by bit.

Stage 4

In this stage, the tumor might have spread to more than one area in the lung. If the cancer cells had spread to the blood cells, it may spread to any part of the body. In this stage, the cancer may spread to the liver, adrenal glands, bones or the brain. It is classified as stage IVA and stage IVB. Stage IVA is when the cancer has spread inside the chest and stage IVB is when it has spread outside of the chest.