Lung Cancer Symptoms And Treatment Facts
- When you inhale, your lungs fill with air. This is how you get oxygen.
- When that air is blown out again, your body emits carbon dioxide.
But how do problems such as lung cancer arise? Everything starts with the cells that you can find in the different tissues and organs in your body – in this case the lungs.
These cells divide to form new cells. If they are damaged or get old, they are replaced by other cells.
Sometimes this division process gets out of hand and a surplus of new cells are produced for renewal. This is how a tumor forms.
Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of cancer that many lung cancer symptoms can lead to.
Forms of cancer
Non-small cancer cells can be categorized into several classes based on how they look under the microscope:
- Squamous cell carcinoma: This type of cancer arises in the squamous cells. These are thin, flat cells that resemble scales. The medical term for this is squamous cell carcinoma.
- Large cell carcinoma: This type occurs from different types of large cells.
- Adenocarcinoma: d
Risk Factors
- People who smoke are 90% more likely to get lung cancer.
- Also remember that inhaling smoke from others is just as bad as smoking yourself.
Diagnosing Lung Cancer Symptoms
. But the following symptoms of lung cancer do stand out:
- Constant or worsening cough
- Chestpain
- Difficulty breathing
- Cough with blood or mucus that is a rust color
- Constant feeling of fatigue
- hoarseness
- Weight loss for no apparent reason
- A ‘whistle’ on the chest (with every breath you hear a kind of whistling sound)
In addition, you may experience the following symptoms when lung cancer spreads to other parts of the body:
- Yellowing of the skin as the cancer spreads to the liver.
- Pain in the bones.
- Headache.
- Weakness in the arms and legs.
- Dizziness.
- To attack.
- Swollen lymph nodes due to the build-up of cells in your immune system.
If these symptoms persist for more than three weeks, it is very important that you see your doctor for a chest X-ray.
Detection
This consists of looking for the disease before a patient has any symptoms at all.
- Physical exam: A doctor checks your general health to see if there are any lumps or anything else out of the ordinary. Your habits and medical history will be taken into account.
- Laboratory tests: e
- Genetic research: These studies look at genetic mutations that may be related to different types of cancer.
Note: It is also important that your doctor approves all cancer screening procedures. Not all of them have to be equally useful and sometimes they can even carry certain risks.
Therapy
There are several treatments available for lung cancer, depending on the severity and extent of the damage. The following treatments are most common:
- Surgery: An operation to remove the cancerous tissue.
- Chemotherapy: The use of drugs in pill and intravenous form that reduce or eradicate the cancer.
- Radiotherapy: the cancer cells are treated with intensive radiation.
- Targeted therapy: Using drugs to block the cancer cells from spreading.
Prevention
- Do not smoke and also avoid inhaling smoke from others.
- In addition, increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables.
- Exercise regularly.
- Do not burn wood in your home (for example, in the fireplace), as it can release harmful substances.
- Avoid areas that are highly industrialized.
- Also, reduce your alcohol intake.
- Finally, have an annual medical check-up to detect abnormalities.
And remember: prevention is better than cure. Therefore, never ignore symptoms of lung cancer: it is better to go to the doctor right away.