Stage one lung cancer means that your cancer is just in your lungs. It has not started to spread to lymph nodes, and can likely be treated with surgery. There are several types of surgery that can remove lung cancer, including segmentectomy (removal of a small segment of the lung), lobectomy (removal of a lobe of the lung) or pneumonectomy (removal of the entire lung). The decision is largely based on the size of the tumor and where in your lung it is located.
Before surgery, your oncologist must make sure you are in otherwise good health. This involves a thorough preoperative physical examination. Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, and it is also linked to heart and other arterial diseases, which means that you need an all-clear to be considered a surgical candidate for stage one lung cancer.
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