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Beware of Lung Cancer
Introduction
Lung cancer is a Cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells lining air passages or epithelial cells. The two main types are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. These types are diagnosed based on how the cells look under a microscope.
Lung Cancer is the most common cancer worldwide nowadays, and also the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. It can be said that lung cancer is one the most challenging part of Oncology study since its high morbidity and mortality.
In 2007, lung cancer will account for approximately 15% of all cancer diagnoses and 28% of all cancer deaths. It is the second most diagnosed cancer in men and women (after prostate and breast, respectively), but it is the number one cause of death from cancer each year in both men and women. Because lung cancer can take years to develop, it is mostly found in older people. The average age of a person receiving a lung cancer diagnosis is 71 years.
Overall, lung cancer affects men more than women, but that gap is closing. The American Cancer Society's most recent lung cancer statistics in the United States for 2009 include an estimated 116,900 men and 103,350 women will be diagnosed with lung cancer and an estimated 88,900 men and 70,490 women will die from lung cancer.
Basic of Cancer
Until know, all the scientists agree that cancer is a genetic disease, thus leads to uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation with impaired cell function and invasiveness to surrounding tissues.
A cancer begins with an error, or mutation, in a cell's DNA. DNA mutations can be caused by the normal aging process or through environmental factors, such as cigarette smoke or breathing in asbestos.
Researchers have found that it takes a series of genetic changes to create a lung cancer cell. Before becoming fully cancerous, cells can be precancerous, which means they have some irregularities (mutations) but still function as lung cells. However, precancerous changes may signify progression toward cancer. When a cell with a genetic mutation divides, it passes along its abnormal genes to the two daughter cells, which then divide into four cells with errors in their DNA and so on. Once a cell has a genetic mutation, it may develop more. With each new mutation, the cell becomes more irregular and may not be as effective in carrying out their function in lung tissue. At a later stage of disease, some cells can migrate away from the main tumor and start growing in other parts of the body. These sites are called metastases.
Primary and Secondary Lung Cancer
Primary lung cancer starts in the lungs. The cancer cells are abnormal lung cells. Sometimes, people will have cancer from another part of their body travel, or metastasize, to their lungs. This is called secondary lung cancer, because the lungs are secondary compared to the original, primary, location of the cancer. Secondary lung cancer is not lung cancer, but rather the type of cancer from its original site, such as breast cancer. Secondary lung cancer will be treated differently than primary lung cancer, because it is a different disease. This web site focuses on primary lung cancer.
Risk Factor of Lung Cancer
Cigarette smoking is the cause of most lung cancers, but there are other factors, too. Exposure to asbestos, radon, environmental factors, or secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer. Sometimes, a person develops lung cancer and doctors do not know why. There are often internal factors (inherited or from our genes) as well as external or environmental factors (from outside of our bodies) involved in the development of any type of cancer.
Thus by identifying the risk factors, we can minimalized our chance to get lung cancer, also beware of having lung cancer.
The signs and symptoms of lung cancer
The signs and symptoms take years to develop and they may not appear until the disease is advanced. Since cancer at first time is about small size, and causing no impairment lung function, thus the patient will be asymptomatic and feeling just do well.
Thus also happens when patient experienced first symptoms such as cough, most of them will think this as usuall cough that will overcome by day. But when the cough seems untreated and the cancer keeps growing inside the body.
Some symptoms of lung cancer that are in the chest:
Coughing, especially if it persists or becomes intense
Pain in the chest, shoulder, or back unrelated to pain from coughing
A change in color or volume of sputum
Shortness of breath
Changes in the voice or being hoarse
Harsh sounds with each breath (stridor)
Recurrent lung problems, such as bronchitis or pneumonia
Coughing up phlegm or mucus, especially if it is tinged with blood
Coughing up blood
If the original lung cancer has spread, a person may feel symptoms in other places in the body. Common places for lung cancer to spread include other parts of the lungs, lymph nodes, bones, brain, liver, and adrenal glands.
Some symptoms of lung cancer that may occur elsewhere in the body:
Loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss
Fatigue
Headaches, bone or joint pain
Bone fractures not related to accidental injury
Neurological symptoms, such as unsteady gait or memory loss
Neck or facial swelling
General weakness
Bleeding
Blood clots
Screening
The goal of a screening program is to find cancer at an early stage when there are fewer symptoms. Treatment at early stages of cancer can lead to more treatment options, less invasive surgery, and a higher survival rate. For example, in recent years, the five-year survival rate of persons whose cancers were diagnosed when they were still localized (had not spread) was almost 50%. This drops to 2% for persons whose cancers were diagnosed after their cancers had spread distantly. Even though early detection can save lives, there is currently no approved screening test for lung cancer that has been proven to improve survival or detect localized disease. There are studies underway, though, to find appropriate screening tools.
Early detection of lung cancer is critical for improving survival of this disease because only 15% of lung cancers are found when they are localized. Since there are few or no symptoms in the early stages of the disease, the majority of lung cancers are diagnosed in the late stages of the disease. Symptoms of later-stage disease may include a persistent cough, sputum streaked with blood, chest pain, voice change, and recurrent pneumonia or bronchitis.
Testing people who are known to be at high risk for developing lung cancer may help find tumors at an earlier stage when they are small and more easily treated. People at high risk include men and women
Aged 60 years and older who currently smoke or have a history of smoking
- With previous lung tumors
- With chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Possible screening techniques for lung cancer include
Microscopic analysis of cells in sputum
- Fiberoptic examination of bronchial passages (bronchoscopy)
- Low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT) scans
- Evaluation of molecular markers in sputum
Take Home Message
Early Detection of Cancer provides a good clinical outcomes and Prognosis.
Lung cancer is a Cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells lining air passages or epithelial cells. The two main types are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. These types are diagnosed based on how the cells look under a microscope.
Lung Cancer is the most common cancer worldwide nowadays, and also the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. It can be said that lung cancer is one the most challenging part of Oncology study since its high morbidity and mortality.
In 2007, lung cancer will account for approximately 15% of all cancer diagnoses and 28% of all cancer deaths. It is the second most diagnosed cancer in men and women (after prostate and breast, respectively), but it is the number one cause of death from cancer each year in both men and women. Because lung cancer can take years to develop, it is mostly found in older people. The average age of a person receiving a lung cancer diagnosis is 71 years.
Overall, lung cancer affects men more than women, but that gap is closing. The American Cancer Society's most recent lung cancer statistics in the United States for 2009 include an estimated 116,900 men and 103,350 women will be diagnosed with lung cancer and an estimated 88,900 men and 70,490 women will die from lung cancer.
Basic of Cancer
Until know, all the scientists agree that cancer is a genetic disease, thus leads to uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation with impaired cell function and invasiveness to surrounding tissues.
A cancer begins with an error, or mutation, in a cell's DNA. DNA mutations can be caused by the normal aging process or through environmental factors, such as cigarette smoke or breathing in asbestos.
Researchers have found that it takes a series of genetic changes to create a lung cancer cell. Before becoming fully cancerous, cells can be precancerous, which means they have some irregularities (mutations) but still function as lung cells. However, precancerous changes may signify progression toward cancer. When a cell with a genetic mutation divides, it passes along its abnormal genes to the two daughter cells, which then divide into four cells with errors in their DNA and so on. Once a cell has a genetic mutation, it may develop more. With each new mutation, the cell becomes more irregular and may not be as effective in carrying out their function in lung tissue. At a later stage of disease, some cells can migrate away from the main tumor and start growing in other parts of the body. These sites are called metastases.
Primary and Secondary Lung Cancer
Primary lung cancer starts in the lungs. The cancer cells are abnormal lung cells. Sometimes, people will have cancer from another part of their body travel, or metastasize, to their lungs. This is called secondary lung cancer, because the lungs are secondary compared to the original, primary, location of the cancer. Secondary lung cancer is not lung cancer, but rather the type of cancer from its original site, such as breast cancer. Secondary lung cancer will be treated differently than primary lung cancer, because it is a different disease. This web site focuses on primary lung cancer.
Risk Factor of Lung Cancer
Cigarette smoking is the cause of most lung cancers, but there are other factors, too. Exposure to asbestos, radon, environmental factors, or secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer. Sometimes, a person develops lung cancer and doctors do not know why. There are often internal factors (inherited or from our genes) as well as external or environmental factors (from outside of our bodies) involved in the development of any type of cancer.
Thus by identifying the risk factors, we can minimalized our chance to get lung cancer, also beware of having lung cancer.
The signs and symptoms of lung cancer
The signs and symptoms take years to develop and they may not appear until the disease is advanced. Since cancer at first time is about small size, and causing no impairment lung function, thus the patient will be asymptomatic and feeling just do well.
Thus also happens when patient experienced first symptoms such as cough, most of them will think this as usuall cough that will overcome by day. But when the cough seems untreated and the cancer keeps growing inside the body.
Some symptoms of lung cancer that are in the chest:
Coughing, especially if it persists or becomes intense
Pain in the chest, shoulder, or back unrelated to pain from coughing
A change in color or volume of sputum
Shortness of breath
Changes in the voice or being hoarse
Harsh sounds with each breath (stridor)
Recurrent lung problems, such as bronchitis or pneumonia
Coughing up phlegm or mucus, especially if it is tinged with blood
Coughing up blood
If the original lung cancer has spread, a person may feel symptoms in other places in the body. Common places for lung cancer to spread include other parts of the lungs, lymph nodes, bones, brain, liver, and adrenal glands.
Some symptoms of lung cancer that may occur elsewhere in the body:
Loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss
Fatigue
Headaches, bone or joint pain
Bone fractures not related to accidental injury
Neurological symptoms, such as unsteady gait or memory loss
Neck or facial swelling
General weakness
Bleeding
Blood clots
Screening
The goal of a screening program is to find cancer at an early stage when there are fewer symptoms. Treatment at early stages of cancer can lead to more treatment options, less invasive surgery, and a higher survival rate. For example, in recent years, the five-year survival rate of persons whose cancers were diagnosed when they were still localized (had not spread) was almost 50%. This drops to 2% for persons whose cancers were diagnosed after their cancers had spread distantly. Even though early detection can save lives, there is currently no approved screening test for lung cancer that has been proven to improve survival or detect localized disease. There are studies underway, though, to find appropriate screening tools.
Early detection of lung cancer is critical for improving survival of this disease because only 15% of lung cancers are found when they are localized. Since there are few or no symptoms in the early stages of the disease, the majority of lung cancers are diagnosed in the late stages of the disease. Symptoms of later-stage disease may include a persistent cough, sputum streaked with blood, chest pain, voice change, and recurrent pneumonia or bronchitis.
Testing people who are known to be at high risk for developing lung cancer may help find tumors at an earlier stage when they are small and more easily treated. People at high risk include men and women
Aged 60 years and older who currently smoke or have a history of smoking
- With previous lung tumors
- With chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Possible screening techniques for lung cancer include
Microscopic analysis of cells in sputum
- Fiberoptic examination of bronchial passages (bronchoscopy)
- Low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT) scans
- Evaluation of molecular markers in sputum
Take Home Message
Early Detection of Cancer provides a good clinical outcomes and Prognosis.
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