What You Need To Know About Lung Cancer
by Michael Sanford
Cancer is a disease in which certain body cells
don’t function right, divide very fast and produce too much tissue
that forms a tumor. A leading cause of cancer deaths in both men
and women is probably lung cancer. This is the number one cause
of cancer deaths surpassing breast cancer as the leading
cause of deaths in women.
Cancers that begin in the lungs are divided into
two major types, the non-small cell lung cancer and small cell
lung cancer depending on how the cells look under a microscope.
Cigarette smoking is known to be a cause of lung cancer. The risk
of developing the disease increases with the number of cigarettes
smoked particularly if the person starts to smoke at a young age.
The person’s risk of developing lung cancer may be reduced slightly
if you smoke filtered and low tar cigarettes, but it
is still far greater than that of a non-smoker.
Lung cancer has always been more common in men,
particularly those over the age of 40, as more men used to smoke
than women. Considerably, there are a growing number of women
having lung cancer since women have started smoking. About 90%
of all lung cancer deaths among women are from smoking. The risk
of lung cancer goes down quite quickly if the person stops smoking
and after about fifteen years, the person’s chances of developing
the disease are similar to that of a non-smoker. Passive smoking
or the breathing in other people’s cigarette smoke, slightly increases
the risk for lung disease and lung cancer, although the risk is
still much less that if you smoke yourself.
Usually, the symptoms of lung cancer do not appear
until the disease is in an advanced stage. Some are diagnosed
early because they are found as a result of tests for other medical
conditions. Screening examinations are done to detect a disease
in people without symptoms of the disease. And since lung
cancer usually spreads beyond the lungs before causing any symptoms,
an effective screening program to detect the cancer early could
save many lives. So far there is not screening test that has been
shown to prevent the ill person from dying of the cancer. It has
been concluded that the tests
could not find many lung cancers early enough to improve a person’s
chances for a cure. Because of this, lung cancer screening is
not a routine practice for the general public or even for people
at increased risk like smokers.
Symptoms of lung cancer could be continuing cough or change in
a long-standing cough; a chest infection that does not get better;
increasing breathlessness; coughing up blood-stained phlegm; a
dull ache or a sharp pain when coughing or taking a deep breath;
and loss of appetite and loss of
weight. If you think you are having any of these above stated
symptoms, then it is important to have your condition checked
by your doctor even if you know that any of these symptoms may
be caused by illness other than cancer.
Treatment for lung cancer could be through surgery, radiotherapy
and chemotherapy which may be used separately or together depending
on what your physician requires you to undergo with. Basically,
the doctor will plan your treatment, taking into account your
general health condition, the type of
lung cancer you have and the size of the tumor as well as its
stage. There are differences in the treatment for different people
depending on their needs. You should not be afraid to ask your
doctor and it often helps making a lot of queries about the disease
and your condition from your doctor.
For more information please goto the lung cancer resource center.
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