Lung cancer diagnosis is extremely important to follow a proper therapy as there are various lung diseases that result in the almost same sign and symptoms as in case of cancer, yet the treatment strategies vary in each case. Lung cancer complete diagnosis can be done by the imaging and biopsy method in addition to the staging of cancer according to the TNM classification.
Various imaging techniques are frequently employed to diagnose a particular condition while X ray analysis of computed tomography CT scans is used for this purpose. X ray analysis is useful in case of apparent abnormalities that do not need extra expertise while not functional to elucidate the minor details of the lung. In order to reveal the minor
abnormalities in the lungs computed tomography is a promising approach. CT scans are the three dimensional images of the lung or any other tissues that reveal the exact size of tumor and its potential for metastsis. In addition to the imaging techniques lung biopsies are also analyzed to trace the functioning of lung tissues at the cellular level, yet this is not highly recommendable as it can cause serious damage to the lung. While the sputum cytology is not cumbersome at all, yet it reveals limited details about the lung functioning.
Lung cancer imaging is slightly different from the diagnosis as diagnosis is necessary to do prior to the staging. While staging is important to devise an effective therapy as it explains the size of tumor, its ability to invade in local lymph nodes and to spread to the rest of the body parts.