cancer.org | 1.800.227.2345 Lung Cancer Early Detection, Diagnosis, a nd Staging

● If the nodule is in the outer part of the lung, the doctor might pass a thin, hollow needle through the skin of the chest wall (with the guidance of a CT scan) and into the nodule to get a sample. [...] Transthoracic needle biopsy If the suspected tumor is in the outer part of the lungs, the biopsy needle can be put through the skin on the chest wall. [...] A possible complication of this procedure is that air may leak out of the lung at the biopsy site and into the space between the lung and the chest wall. [...] ● It has grown into the space between the lungs (mediastinum), the heart, the large blood vessels near the heart (such as the aorta), the windpipe (trachea), the tube T4 connecting the throat to the stomach (esophagus), the thin muscle separating the chest from the abdomen N0 or N1 (diaphragm), the backbone, or the carina. [...] The cancer has spread to N3 lymph nodes near the collarbone on either side of the body, and/or has spread to hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes on the M0 other side of the body from the main tumor (N3).