Stage II: The cancer has spread to the nearby lymph nodes found in the chest near the lungs. Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped structures where cells are stored; nodes can trap cancer cells or bacteria traveling through the body. Depending on the size of the nodes on a CAT scan, your doctor may recommend an additional test, called a mediastinoscopy. This test is a minor operation to examine the lymph nodes in the chest and perform a biopsy on them. A mediastinoscopy can determine whether the nodes actually have cancer in them, or are enlarged only because of inflammation associated with cancer. If this procedure shows no traces of cancer in these lymph nodes, the treatment recommendation would most likely be surgery on the main tumor followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy for the lymph nodes.
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