Lung Cancer Treatment in Turkey
Lung cancer starts in the lungs and can spread through the body to lymph nodes or other organs, such as the brain. Can also spread cancer from other organs to the lungs. These are called metastases as cancer cells migrate from one organ to another.
Lung cancers are typically classified into two major groups, which are called small and non-small cells. Both forms of lung cancer develop differently and have different treatments. It is more popular for non-small cell lung cancer than for small cell lung cancer.
Types of Lung Cancer
There are two major types of lung cancers, based on the appearance of lung cancer cells under the microscope:
- Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): It is an umbrella term for several types of lung cancers that behave in a similar way, such as squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large cell carcinoma.
- Small cell lung cancer (SCLC): This type of lung cancer occurs mostly in heavy smokers and it is less common than non-small cell lung cancer.
Lung Cancer Stages
It is necessary to determine the stage of lung cancer by finding out how far cancer has spread, before initiating treatment of lung cancer.
The following are the four lung cancer stages of NSCLC:
- Stage 1 lung cancer: Cancer is restricted to the lung
- Stage 2 lung cancer: Cancer has spread to the nearby lymph nodes
- Stage 3 lung cancer: (3a) Cancer is in the lung and the lymph nodes located on the same side (3b) Cancer is in the lung and has spread to lymph nodes on the opposite side
- Stage 4 lung cancer: Cancer has spread to both the lungs and other organs and surrounding tissues
