Stage III of lung cancer affects the lymph nodes
Stage III is divided into stages IIIA and IIIB. IIIA can mean one of two
things. There is cancer in nodes further away from the affected lung, but still
on the same side of the chest. Or there is cancer only in lymph nodes nearest to
the affected lung but the cancer has also spread to either the chest wall or the
covering of the lung (pleura) or the middle of the chest (mediastinum).
IIIB
cancer means one of 4 things:
• There is cancer spread to nodes on the other
side of the chest or to nodes above either collarbone
• There is more than
one tumor in the affected lobe of the lung
• The tumor has grown into
another major structure in the chest, which could be the heart, the windpipe,
the gullet (oesophagus) or a main blood vessel
• There is a fluid collection
around the lung that contains cancer cells (a malignant pleural effusion)
Learn about how lung cancer can affect the lymph nodes