![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/spacer.gif) |
|
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/spacer.gif)
(... KAN-ser)
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/spacer.gif)
| Stage III is divided into stages IIIA and IIIB. In stage IIIA, cancer has spread to lymph nodes on the same side of the chest as the tumor; the tumor may be any size and cancer may have spread to the main bronchus, the chest wall, the diaphragm, the pleura around the lungs, or the membrane around the heart, but cancer has not spread to the trachea; and part or all of the lung may have collapsed or developed pneumonitis (inflammation of the lung). In stage IIIB, the tumor may be any size and has spread to lymph nodes above the collarbone or in the opposite side of the chest from the tumor; AND/OR to any of the following places: the heart, major blood vessels that lead to or from the heart, the chest wall, the diaphragm, the trachea, the esophagus, the sternum (chest bone) or backbone, to more than one place in the same lobe of the lung, and/or into the fluid of the pleural cavity surrounding the lung. |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/spacer.gif)
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/gray_spacer.gif)
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/spacer.gif)
|
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090115212923im_/http://www.cancer.gov/images/spacer.gif) |