About the disease
Lung cancer forms in the lung tissue, where it forms malignant cells. Medical term for lung cancer is lung carcinoma. Almost 85% of this type of cancer is due to tobacco smoking. Another common cause of this cancer is an exposure to radon. According to Medical News Today, an American medical site, radon is the most common cause of death from lung-cancer for nonsmokers. Radon is a gas which is formed from radium. Uranium and granite contain radium. Radon surrounds us in the atmosphere everywhere but usually amount of exposure we are facing daily is so small that it does not affect us. If people are exposed to bigger amounts of radon, risk of developing lung cancer also increases. There are two types of lung cancer: small-cell and non-small cell types. The first sign of lung cancer is chest pain. More than 60% of all patients experience this pain during first stage of this disease.
Causes:
- Tobacco consumption
- Radon
- Radioactive environment in everyday life
- Air pollution
- Age
- Heredity
Symptoms
Usually symptoms of this disease manifest themselves very early. The most typical signs of lung cancer are:
- Painful feeling in the chest
- Cough. 80-90% of all patients have severe cough case during the lung cancer. Cough may also contain blood
- Hemoptysis. This is an official term for the cough that has the colour of raspberry jelly, because of the big amount of blood in it
- Shortness of breath happens usually in the morning. When patient has compression of the blood vessels, he experiences it
- Anemia
- Weight loss
- Weakness
- Inflammatory disease. The symptoms of lung cancer can be inflammatory diseases.
Diagnosis
- Clinical examination, survey, check-up. The doctor pays attention to the personal history of the patient health case, the presence of typical cancer symptoms and general condition.
- X-ray examination. This is the most simple and fast method of diagnosis. In most cases carcinoma is diagnosed using fluorography. If some suspicious formation is detected on the picture, the doctor may recommend X-ray in two projections, which helps to better define the location, structure, size and stage of carcinoma.
- Bronchoscopy. With the help of a bronchoscope physician can visually examine the trachea of the patient. Significant advantage of this method is the ability to detect a tumor and at the same time take samples for biopsy.
- Ultrasonography. Painless, affordable, safe and informative diagnostic method.
- Cancer markers. Modern medicine is actively exploring the possibility of an early diagnosis with the help of special markers. This is a very promising area, but at the moment it has not been researched enough.
Treatment
- Segmental resection of lung allows the doctor to make an incision and remove the whole tumor.
- Extended pneumonectomy is removal of an affected lung. It is possible to perform if metastases have not spreaded yet and is localized in one area. If the radical removal is not possible, surgeon resorts to palliative therapy, removing part of the primary tumor to relieve the patient's pain and to reduce the symptoms.
- Radiation therapy. This therapy is applied simultaneously with the removal of the tumor. It uses radioactive rays to destroy remaining cancerous cells.
- Chemotherapy. Some medication can reduce the size of the tumor, but its complete disappearance can rarely be achieved.
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