Stage 3B lung cancer
Stage 3B lung cancer* is used to describe any of the following situations :
- The cancer has spread to lymph nodes on the other side of the chest from the affected lung, or to nodes that are above the collar bone on either side
- The affected lung has more than one tumor in it
- The tumor has grown into one of the other main structures in the chest, like the windpipe, the gullet, the heart or a major blood vessel
- There is fluid around the lung, and the fluid contains cancer cells (the fluid is called a “pleural effusion”)
Stage 3B and Stage 4 lung cancer are called “advanced disease”. Most people with lung cancer have advanced disease by the time they are diagnosed.
*staging information refers to NSCLC only
