Staging of lung cancer

Primary lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. Thorough clinical staging of patients with lung cancer is important, because therapeutic options and management are to a considerable degree dependent on stage at presentation. Radiologic imaging is an essential component of clinical staging, including chest radiography in some cases, computed tomography, MRI, and PET. Multiplanar imaging modalities allow assessment of features that are important for surgical, oncologic, and radiation therapy planning, including size of the primary tumor, location and relationship to normal anatomic structures in the thorax, and existence of nodal and/or metastatic disease.