In order to choose the most appropriate treatment for you, lung cancer must be correctly diagnosed.
There are two major types of lung cancer: non-small cell and small cell. They each affect different types of cells in the lung and grow and spread in different ways, causing doctors to treat them differently. Tumors found in the lungs sometimes originate from cancers elsewhere in the body. In these cases, treatment may be different from that for cancer that originates in the lungs. A diagnosis will include not only the type of cancer but the stage, which describes the extent and spread of the disease at diagnosis.
Physicians use several techniques to diagnose lung cancer:
- Chest x-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans help locate abnormal areas in the lung.
- A sputum (mucus coughed up from the lungs) sample can also be analyzed for the presence of cancerous cells.
- Doctors may perform a bronchoscopy, which allows them to examine the bronchial passages using an instrument called a bronchoscope. This is a small tube that is inserted through the nose or mouth, down the throat, and into the bronchi (the small tubes that go into each lung). During the procedure, physicians may remove some tissue for analysis. A new, modified form of bronchoscopy called auto-fluorescence bronchoscopy, can detect early invasive cancers not seen with standard x-rays or white-light bronchoscopy, and is being used to detect very early lung cancer.
- To examine areas of the lungs that are not accessible during a bronchoscopy, physicians may perform a needle biopsy (called "fine needle aspiration" or FNA) to remove a small sample of tissue for analysis.
