#1 Lung Cancer Symptom and Lung Cancer Treatment

Every moment that we are alive, cells in our bodies are dividing and reproducing ten million of them every minute. Usually, there is an orderly pattern to this reproduction as cells develop and specialize to fit a particular need that the body has. Occasionally, though, a cell becomes damaged. There is a mutation in its DNA, and rather than maturing and dying as it is supposed to do, it continues to reproduce unchecked. In essence, this is cancer uncontrolled reproduction and growth of abnormal cells in the body. Malignant cancer cells have the ability to invade nearby tissues and systems, or to migrate to other parts of the body (metastasizing).

Lung cancer is a growth of malignant cells in the lungs. Cancer of the lungs is one of the deadliest forms of cancer for several reasons. First, lung cancer tends to metastasize early in the progress of the disease. There s much less time to fight the mutated cells with medication or radiation. In addition, when lung cancer does metastasize, it spreads to some very vulnerable and important organs. While it may spread to any organ in the body, lung cancer is most likely to metastasize to the adrenal glands, the liver, the brain and the bones.

Lung cancer can arise in any part of the lungs. Most cancer of the lungs (90-95%) are believed to start in the epithelial lining of the lungs the linings of the large and small airways that perform the task of extracting oxygen from the air that we breathe. Because of this, lung cancer is sometimes called bronchogenic carcinoma cancer arising from the bronchia. A smaller percentage of lung cancers begin in the pleura the thin tissue sac that surrounds the lungs. Those cancers are called mesothelioma. The most common form of mesothelioma is linked to exposure to asbestos. Finally, the most rare type of lung cancers begin in the blood vessels or other supporting tissues in the lungs.

There are two main types of lung cancer Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). SCLC is less common, but more deadly. It is inextricably linked to cigarette smoking less than 1% of SCLC is diagnosed in non-smokers. SCLC is extremely aggressive and fast-moving. It metastasizes rapidly to other organs, and is most often not discovered until after it is already widespread.

NSCLC accounts for about 80% of all diagnosed lung cancers. There are three main types of non-small cell lung cancer squamous cell cancer, adenocarcinomas and large cell carcinomas. It s also possible for lung cancer to be mixed NSCLC types.

There are other far less common types of lung cancer. Bronchial carcinoids are small tumors that are most often found in people under 40 years of age. They grow more slowly, and are most amenable to treatment. Cancers can very rarely occur in the smooth muscle tissue or blood vessels that help support the lungs.

Finally, some cancers that are found in the lungs aren t lung cancers at all. Because the lungs are so prone to metastatic cancers from other sites, it s also not uncommon to find tumors from other primary cancers in the lungs. When those occur, they are most often scattered around the lungs in the peripheral tissues rather than in the central lung tissues.

There are a number of risk factors that are correlated with lung cancer. The most common are:

Cigarette Smoking
Cigarette smoking is most closely correlated with lung cancer. A person who smokes two packs or more of cigarettes per day has a one in seven chance of dying of lung cancer. A person who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day has a twenty-five times greater chance of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker. A person who smokes a pipe or cigar has a five times greater chance of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker.

The risk of developing lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked over your lifetime. Cigarette smoking damages the cells in your lungs. The moment you stop smoking, your lungs begin healing themselves, replacing damaged cells with healthy, normal cells. Your risk of developing lung cancer begins decreasing almost immediately when you quit smoking. Every year that you don t smoke, your chances of developing lung cancer drop further. By the fifteenth year, your chances of developing lung cancer are about the same as those of a person who has never smoked.

Secondhand Smoke
Also known as passive smoking, people exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis also have a higher risk of developing lung cancer, even if they don t smoke themselves. Studies have shown that those who live with a smoker have a 24% greater risk of developing lung cancer than most non-smokers. Doctors estimate that about 3000 lung cancer deaths a year are related to secondhand smoke.

Asbestos Exposure
Exposure to asbestos is another well-known cause of lung cancer and mesothelioma cancer of the pleural lining of the lungs. Asbestos was widely used in construction and everyday products in the late 1800s through the 1960s. Asbestos separates into fine silica fibers that become trapped in the tissues of the lungs. Mesothelioma is inextricably linked to asbestos exposure. There are no reported cases of mesothelioma in people who were not exposed to asbestos either in the workplace or through their environment. A person non-smoker who was exposed to asbestos has a five times greater risk of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker who was not exposed. Smoking increases the risk dramatically a smoker who was exposed to asbestos have a risk of developing lung cancer that is 50 to 90 times greater than that of a non-smoker.

Radon Gas
It s estimated that about 12% of lung cancer deaths can be attributed to radon gas, a colorless, odorless gas that is a natural byproduct of the decay of uranium. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as many as 15% of homes in the United States have unsafe levels of radon gas, which will account for 15,000 to 22,000 deaths from lung cancer annually.

Air Pollution
Scientists estimate that as many as 1% of all lung cancer deaths are attributable to air pollution. They believe that prolonged exposure to very polluted air can raise the risks of developing lung cancer to about the levels of a passive smoker.

The treatment that is recommended for lung cancer will depend on a number of factors, including how far advanced the cancer is, how large the tumors are, whether or not they are localized, the overall health of the patient and the desires of the patient. The traditional treatments for lung cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and combinations of the three. In addition, treatment for lung cancer may include both curative treatments intended to remove or destroy the cancer and palliative treatments, intended to reduce the pain and discomfort, though they can not cure the cancer. Finally, a therapy may be a primary therapy, or it may be used to supplement or complement the primary therapy, in which case it is referred to as adjuvant therapy. An example of adjuvant therapy is radiation therapy following surgery to remove a tumor. The primary therapy is the surgery. Radiation therapy is a follow-up to be certain that all cancerous cells have been destroyed.

Surgery for Lung Cancer
In early stage lung cancer, particularly stage I non-large cell lung cancer (NLCLC), the preferred treatment is surgical removal of the tumor. Because the cancer is still confined to the lungs, often as one tumor, it is possible to surgically remove most or all of it with surgery. The further advanced lung cancer is, the less likely it is that surgery can be effective. Once the lung cancer spreads beyond the chest and metastasizes into other organs, surgery is seldom a viable option.

Medical experts estimate that between 10 and 35% of all lung cancers can be removed surgically. Surgical removal is not a guarantee of a cure, though, as the cancerous cells may already have started to spread, and may recur later. Surgery may not be an option if the cancer is too close to the trachea, or if a person is in poor health otherwise.

The surgery chosen is also dependent on what the exact stage and condition of the lungs is at the time of the surgery. It ranges from the removal of a part of one lobe, to the removal of an entire lung. Up to 40% of patients who undergo surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from their lungs are still alive five years after the surgery.

Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer
Radiation therapy can kill off dividing cancer cells and stop the spread of cancer. It is most often used in conjunction with either surgery, chemotherapy or both. Occasionally, it is recommended as the sole treatment option for lung cancer most often when the patient is too ill to undergo surgery or withstand chemotherapy. When radiation therapy is used as the sole treatment for lung cancer, it results in the shrinking of tumors and complete remission from cancer symptoms approximately 10-15% of the time.

Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer
Chemotherapy is the use of medicines to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be used with both NSCLC and SCLC, though it is most often recommended for patients with SCLC, whose tumors have spread beyond the chest area. Chemotherapy can prolong the survival rate of patients with cancer as much as twenty times. A great deal depends on the particular drugs that are used and how well they re tolerated by the patient.