ESMO Patients Guide
How will my treatment be determined? After a diagnosis is confirmed, your cancer specialist will look at a number of factors to help plan your treatment. This includes information about yourself and about the cancer.
Patient-related factors • • • • •
Your age. Your general health. Your medical history. Your smoking history. Results of blood tests and scans.
Cancer-related factors Treatment also depends on the type of lung cancer that you have (histopathology or cytopathology results), where it is in the lung (its location) and whether it has spread to other parts of the body (imaging results). Staging
It is important for your doctor to know the stage of the cancer so that he/she can determine the best treatment approach
Staging of the cancer is used to describe its size and position and whether it has spread from where it started. Cancer is staged using a number/letter system – described as Stages IA–IV. Generally, the lower the stage the better the prognosis. Staging considers: • How big the cancer is (tumour size; T). • Whether it has spread into the lymph nodes (N). • Whether it has metastasised (spread) to other areas within the lungs or to other parts of the body (M). Staging is usually carried out twice: after clinical and radiological examinations; and after surgery, in the case of surgically resected tumours.
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