Malignant lung nodules are not necessarily early stage lung cancer and can be all stages of lung cancer. Malignant lung nodules, which only clarify the diagnosis of the nodules as lung cancer, cannot clarify the specific stage, so it is impossible to determine whether it is early lung cancer. The staging of lung cancer is based on the combination of the size of the lesion, the condition of the lymph nodes, and whether there are metastases in distant organs. Through CT or PET-CT examination, it helps to evaluate the clinical staging and also helps to guide the diagnosis and treatment. In post-surgical patients, more accurate pathologic staging through pathologic examination is of greater clinical value. Therefore malignant lung nodules are not necessarily early and need to be staged by imaging or pathology.