Lung Cancer - Signs, Symptoms and Treatment

In some ways, the best-known and most sinister cancer is lung cancer.  Perhaps this is because of its strong link with cigarette smoking. The lungs are the two organs in the chest that deliver oxygen to the bloodstream.  As you take a breath, air goes into the lungs, making them expand. This air sometimes comes very close to the blood, traveling through the capillaries.  The air goes in through the mouth and nose, traveling down the trachea into the lungs. As a person breathes out, he exhales substances that the body doesn't need, such as carbon dioxide.  The tissue of the lungs is quite delicate, as they are meant to place the blood in close contact with the air.  It's worth noting that whatever is in the air that you breathe enters and potentially pollutes your lungs.
 
Lung cancer arises as cells within the lungs start to grow in an out of control manner, invading nearby tissue and eventually spreading throughout the human body.  A large cluster of these cancerous cells are called tumors.  Although any of the cells in the lung tissue could develop lung cancer, in most instances, lung cancer derives from the bronchi lining.  The two main categories of lung cancer are (SCLC) Small Cell Lung Cancer and (NSCLC) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer or NSCLC makes up as much as 80 percent of all lung cancers.  This variety is typically slower growing than SCLC.
 
Lung cancer is responsible for more cancer deaths worldwide than any other type of cancer; this is true for both men and women.  In the U.S. alone, more than 160,000 people a year die from the disease.  Also, since the 1990s, lung cancer has caused more cancer deaths among women than breast cancer, which until then had been women's number one cancer-killer.  This is closely linked with the increased number of women who smoke.
 
In fact, among all groups, smoking is the number one risk factor associated with lung cancer.  Everyone who smokes is at risk of getting the disease.  Between 85 and 90 percent of all cases of the disease probably stem from cigarette smoking.  Furthermore, the chances of a smoker getting lung cancer increase the longer he smokes, the more he smokes, and the deeper he inhales.  And contrary to what some people think, low-tar cigarettes do not prevent a person from getting lung cancer. 
 
Important:  It's never too late to stop smoking, because studies have shown that no matter how long a person has been smoking, his chance of getting lung cancer begins declining immediately when he quits.
 
Second-hand smoke has also been linked with lung cancer, with as many as 17 percent of cases of the disease caused at least partly by exposure to second-hand smoke when the person was a child.  Even smoking pipes, cigars, and marijuana are believed to carry some risk for getting lung cancer.  In addition, working close to asbestos for a long period gives someone a higher risk of getting the cancer.
 
Given what we've just discussed, clearly the most effective way of preventing lung cancer is to not smoke, or if you do, to quit.  Also, try to avid being around those who do smoke.  Likewise, avoid cigars, pipes and marijuana.  Finally, if you work around asbestos, be sure to use proper protective equipment.
 
Early in the development of lung cancer, there might be few or no symptoms.  But as the tumor grows, some of the symptoms might include a cough that doesn't go away, chest pain, coughing blood, shortness of breath, new, unexplained hoarseness and wheezing, unexplained weight loss, recurring problems with bronchitis or pneumonia, fatigue, dizziness, bone pain, double vision, numbness / tingling in the legs or arms, or seizures. 
 
For patients with the NSCLC form of lung cancer, surgery is typically the first treatment method.  The goal is to remove as much tumor material as possible.  If the tumor is not very big, it can often be removed with just a small section of the lung known as a "wedge resection."  Most times, though, the surgeon chooses to remove the whole lobe of the affected lung in a process called a lobectomy.  In some instances, the surgeon has to remove the entire lung in a process called a pneumonectomy.  This is a drastic surgery, and not every patient can survive the procedure.  Others might be extremely limited in future activities.  However, there are tests that can help predict who will be a good candidate for surgery.

Even if the tumors removed in surgery, there is a chance they might recur due to microscopic cancer cells not fully removed by the surgeon.  Chemotherapy is a treatment method used to help fight the chances of recurrence.  In chemotherapy, cancer-attacking drugs are introduced to the body, and travel throughout the system, delivering potent anti-cancer medication. SCLC responds quite favorably to chemotherapy, and therefore, most patients with this variety of the disease will be recommended for chemo.  
 
A new class of drugs / medications designed to fight precise pathways with some cancers are known as targeted therapies.  These targeted therapies are a form of chemotherapy and are given either as a pill or through a vein.  Their side effects are often much more tolerable than those for traditional chemotherapy.
 
Radiation therapy is also commonly used to treat lung cancer.  In this treatment option, the medical professionals strive to kill cancer cells with high energy x-rays.  The treatment is painless, but takes some time--generally six to eight weeks of therapy, for five days a week.  In some instances, if surgery is believed to be too dangerous, radiotherapy is used in its place.  Or in other cases, the surgeon uses it to shrink the tumor before surgery, which makes it easier to remove.
 
Another treatment for lung cancer is PDT or photodynamic therapy.  In this method, the medical staff injects the patient with a drug which is taken up in the tumor cells, making them sensitive to a certain kind of light. Then light is shone on the tumor, activating the drug and hopefully killing the cancer cells.  This is most often used for lesions that have developed in the airway.
 
Whichever treatment options are used, follow-up treatment is always suggested.  And throughout the process, to ensure a better chance of healthy living, staying in close contact with a doctor is always strongly advised.