In general, the larger the cancerous lesion, the closer it is to advanced stage. Rather, in fact, clinical staging of lung cancer is based on TNM staging.
This takes into account not only the size of the lesion, but also the location of lesion invasion (T): dirty pleura, mural pleura, chest wall, main bronchus, aorta, pericardium, great vessels, trachea, esophagus, diaphragm, and laryngeal recurrent nerve, with or without obstructive atelectasis and/or obstructive pneumonia.
Lymph node metastasis (N): hilar lymph node metastasis, mediastinal lymph node metastasis, bilateral oblique or supraclavicular lymph node metastasis, etc.
And the presence or absence of distant metastases (M).
For example, even a T1N2M1 with a lesion less than 3 cm is considered advanced.
The symptoms of early peripheral lung cancer are not obvious, and by the time they become obvious, they are already in advanced stages. Therefore, it is important to always pay attention to the health condition and medical examination.