Radiology of lung cancer and staging Flashcards
what is a solitary pulmonary nodule?
it is defined as a discrete, well marginated, rounded opacity less than or equal to 3cm in diameter that is completely surrounded by lung parenchyma, does not touch the hilum or mediastinum and is not associated with adenopathy, atelectasis or pleural effusion
what is pleural effusion?
it is the build up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lungs
what are the pleura of the lungs?
they are thin membranes that line the lungs and the inside of the chest cavity and act to lubricate and facilitate breathing
what is adenopathy?
large or swollen lymph nodes, lymph nodes can become enlarged as a result of inflammatory diseases, infection or cancer
what are the stages of non small cell lung cancer?
stage 1-4
what is stage 1 non small cell lung cancer
when the non small cell lung cancer is located only in the lungs and has not spread to any lymph nodes
what is stage 2 non small cell lung cancer
cancer is in the lung and nearby lymph nodes
what is stage 3 non small cell lung cancer
cancer is found in the lung and in the lymph nodes in the middle of the chest
what is TNM staging?
the classification of malignant tumours, it is a notation system that describes the stage of a cancer which originates from a solid tumour with alphanumeric codes
T - Tumour
N - NODES
M - METASTASIS
what is the T, N & M in TNM staging?
T - stands for original primary tumour size
N - Stands for nodes, it tells whether the cancer has spread to the nearby lymph nodes
M - Metastatic spread, stands for metastasis,
each cancer is assigned a letter or number to describe the tumour, node and metastases
what is EDG PET?
it is functional imaging, a nuclear medicine technique, the procedure is used to detect metabolically active malignant lesions including lung cancer
state a useful adjunct in non small cell lung carcinomas TNM staging?
FDG-PET, the usefulness mainly lies in nodal staging and distant metastatic survey
describe a T4 staged tumour
tumour has invaded the brachial plexus, this tumour is large greater than 7cm diameter
what affects the classification of regional lymph nodes?
whether a positive mediastinal lymph node is right or left sided
what are lymph nodes?
small bean-shaped organs which produce and store blood cells that help fight disease and infection
