Three Common Lung Cancer Screening MethodsA physical exam will look for signs of wheezing, shortness of breath, cough, pain and other possible signs of lung cancer. Depending on the advancement of the cancer, other early signs of lung cancer symptoms may include a lack of sweating, dilated neck veins, face swelling, excessively constricted pupils, and other signs. The physical exam will also include the patient's history of smoking and a chest X-ray.
Extensive stage: This refers to small cell lung cancer that has spread throughout one lung, spread into both lungs, to lymph nodes on the other side of the chest or to other body parts. About two in three people with small cell lung cancer have extensive stage cancer upon first diagnosis.Occult stage: In this stage, cancer cells appear in a sputum cytology exam or other test, though no tumor location can be found.
Stage II: There are several ways that stage II lung cancer may be diagnosed. One is that the lung cancer has spread to lymph nodes near the lungs. Stage III: As in stage II lung cancer, stage III has several definitions. One is that the lung cancer is found in both the lung and lymph nodes in the middle of the chest. Stage III lung cancer is divided into two subsets.