Stages of lung cancer

There are three stages to characterize lung cancer, and they are T (tumor) stage, N (lymph nodes) stage, and M (metastasis - spread to distant organs) stage. I will only discuss T stage for now, because it is the most direct and important stage of lung cancer.

T stage: Tis, T1, T2, T3, T4

Tis: Cancer is found only in the lining layer of air passageway. The clinical term for this is carcinoma in situ.

T1: Cancer that is no larger than 3 cm, but can be detected by x-ray. It did not spread throughout lung's outer membrane.

T2: Cancer that is larger than 3 cm, and it involves main bronchus. Usually, spreading throughout lung's outer membrane.

T3: This is when cancer is spreading and getting out of control. Some of its feature are spreading through diaphragm, the mediastinal pleura (area between the lungs), and parietal pericardium (membranes of the sac surrounding the heart).
Cancer also has the potential to cause lungs to collapse

T4: This stage is when cancer is most severe, spreading to the mediastinum (space behind the chest bone and in front of the heart), the trachea, the esophagus, the backbone, or lining of windpipe.

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