Lung cancer staging classification

The most commonly used system of staging SCLC was developed originally by the Veterans Administration Lung Cancer Study Group. This system categorizes SCLC into two classifications limited and extensive disease.16... 

The World Health Organization has established a TNM staging classification for lung cancer based on the primary tumor size and extent (T), regional lymph node involvement (N), and the presence or absence of distant metastases (M). 

A two-stage classification established by the Veterans Administration Lung Cancer Study Group is widely used in the United States to stage SCLC. Limited disease is classified as disease confined to one hemithorax and to the regional lymph nodes. All other disease is classified as extensive. Approximately 70% of patients initially present... 

Nick O Tyne. Surgical resection of the primary lung cancer with an J attempt at cure was justified in Nick O Tyne, who had a good prognosis with a Ti,Ni,Mo staging classification preoperatively. Without some evidence of spread to the central nervous system at that time, a preoperative CT scan of the brain would not have been justified. This conservative approach would require scanning of all of the potential sites for metastatic disease from a non-small cell cancer of the lung in all patients who present in this way. In an era of runaway costs of health care delivery, such an approach could not be considered cost-effective. 

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