The TNM system is rarely used for staging patients with small cell lung carcinoma because most have suspected or definite metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. Minor differences in the extent of tumor involvement is not likely to affect the prognosis of these cases.
Patients diagnosed with small cell lung cancer are rarely staged using the TNM system because most of those cases have definitely (or most likely) metastasized at the time of the initial diagnosis. Minor differences in the extent of tumor involvement is not likely to affect the prognosis of these cases. Instead, small cell lung cancers are staged using (not universally accepted) a two-tiered system created by the Veterans Administration Lung Cancer Group. That system includes the following classifications:
Limited stage (LS) SCLC refers to cancer that is confined to its area of origin in the chest.
Extensive stage (ES) SCLC refers to cancer that has spread beyond the chest to other body parts.
Treatment
Treatment plans for lung cancer include one or more of the following:
Surgery—there are three different surgical procedures associated with lung cancer treatment: segmentectomy (also known as wedge resection) is the removal of wedge like pieces of the area, lobectomy is the removal of an entire lobe, and pneumonectomy is the removal of a whole lung.
Chemotherapy—anti-cancer drugs are administered orally (through the mouth), intravenously (through the vein), subcutaneously (shot into the skin, not muscle), or intrathecally (through the spine).
Radiation—high energy x-rays are beamed into the diseased area to kill the dividing cells (external radiation) or radioactive material is placed inside the body near the site of the tumor (internal radiation).
Brain prophylactic radiation—radiation therapy to the brain may be given to treat micrometastasis (early spread) that is not yet detectable with CT or MRI scans.
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)—this procedure uses a light-sensitive drug (sometimes referred to as a photosensitizing agent) combined with laser or other light sources to kill cancer cells.