Do you know the lung cancer was rare in early 20th century? The manufactured cigarettes help the lung cancer intrude in the human race and now 87% of lung cancers are the sequels of passive exposure to tobacco smoke or smoking tobacco. This clearly shows the association between smoking and lung cancer. Smoking and lung cancer are twin brothers, which will catalyst the deterioration of one s health.
There is a myth that lung cancer won t occur if you smoke low tar cigarettes, which is not true. Although hookah smoking is actively marketed as safer than cigarettes, Hookah smoking also equally dangerous to cigarette smoking, which may lead to lung cancer. Experts believe that inhaling any amount of tobacco smoke irrespective of the origin will lead to lung cancer.
Although you are a non-smoker, but breathe the others smoke, you are also at the risk for lung cancer. A study indicates that a nonsmoker wed locked with a smoker tends to go for 30% greater risk of occurrence of lung cancer than the nonsmoker spouse. There is higher incidence of lung cancer among the workers who have been exposed to tobacco smoke in the work spot.
Myriad studies have been conducted for smoking and lung cancer and concluded that smoking not only causes lung cancer, but includes a person s risk of onset of cancer of the pancreas, kidney, bladder, esophagus, oral cavity, pharynx and larynx. A special study on smoking and cancer project a strong binding between smoking and cancer of cervix.
Since there is a great association between smoking and lung cancer, there is great risk of developing other smoking-associated cancers. These types of cancers and lung cancer incidence depends mainly on the lifetime exposure to cigarette smoke, number of years a person has smoked and the age at which he is practicing the cigarette smoking.
Since there is great relationship between smoking and lung cancer, it is necessary to know how smoking causes lung cancer. The tube-like structure, which connects the nose to the lungs called bronchi, is lined with a single layer cells. Hair-like cilia cleanse the lung by sending the untoward substances pushing out of the lungs through bronchi.
The cleaning mechanism effectiveness gets affected due to smoking with disappearance of cilia. Hence the carcinogenic substances gets accumulated in the bronchial lining and also absorbed, which may get transformed into the blood system. These carcinogenic substances present in the cigarette smoke can alter the nature of the cells slowly and progressively until cancer develops.
The good news is that quit smoking reduces smoker s risk of developing lung and other cancers. Your damaged lung tissue gradually rejuvenates normal once you stop smoking. The smokers who quitted smoking is that the risk of occurrence of lung cancer has been drastically reduced to one-third of what it would have been if you prolonged your smoking habit.
After quit smoking, the risk for lung cancer has been decreased immediately and gradually declines each year. In addition to this, the risk of developing chronic diseases of smoking has also been reduced drastically. It is noteworthy to say that women who quit smoking during her first trimester of pregnancy experience no adverse pregnancy effects as stillbirth or low birth weight. Smoking and lung cancer are directly proportional. Increased smoking leads to lung cancer and vice versa.
Small cell lung cancer can also be called as oat cell cancer. The small cell lung cancer is less common than non-small cell lung cancer. The typical characteristic of this type of cancer is that it grows more rapidly and is more prone to spread to other organs of your body. Small cell lung cancer starts in any one of the larger breathing tubes, grows quickly and attains larger size at the time of diagnosis.
Causes for small cell lung cancer Most of the small cell lung cancer is the sequel a of tobacco smoking. Nearly 87% of the lung cancers are caused due to smoking and some of the rest may be due to tobacco smoke exposure. Other etiology of small cell lung cancer includes occupational hazards- exposure to cancer-causing agents (Mesothelioma) and personal or family history of lung cancer. Hence the doctors recommend avoiding smoking and exposure to hazardous chemicals.
Symptoms of small cell lung cancer The initial symptoms of small cell lung cancer include persistent coughing, continuous pain in the thoracic cavity, dyspnea, and blood during coughing. Once your small cell lung cancer reach the advance stage, the symptoms varies depending upon the organ where it metastasized. For example, once the small cell lung cancer develop metastasis in the brain, there is possibility of loss memory, constant head ache, etc.,
Diagnosis of small cell lung cancer The small cell lung cancer can easily be diagnosed by CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays. These diagnoses can easily be obtained for identifying the place of tumor in the lungs. By using these diagnostic methods, the location, size, and shape of the tumor can easily be detected. Even sometimes lung biopsy and sputum cytology are more helpful than any other diagnostic procedures.
Treatment of small cell lung cancer The small cell lung cancer is usually occurring in two forms as limited or extensive. Since small cell lung cancer has usually multiply progressively by the time it is found, only by means of surgery curing the small cell lung cancer is questionable. Surgery combined with chemotherapy is usually preferred method of treating the disease.
Limited stage of small cell lung cancer Chemotherapy is suggested by most of the physicians even you are suffering from limited stage of small cell lung cancer. In case if your lung consists of single nodule without any other evidence of cancer elsewhere, your physician prefers to go for surgery and followed by chemotherapy. The commonly used combination of drugs is carboplatin or cisplatin combined with etoposide, continued for 6 months. There are some evident that paclitaxel or topotecan addition with this combination increases the survival rate.
In the early stages of small cell lung cancer, the radiation therapy fetches fruitful results rather than surgery or chemotherapy. You may experience difficult in breathing and trouble in swallowing after the exposure to radiation. Chest radiation therapy is contraindicated in other types of serious health problems or severe lung disease.
Extensive stage of small cell lung cancer In the extensive stage of small cell lung cancer, using the chemotherapy alone can alleviate the symptoms. The drug combination Cisplatin or carboplatin along with etoposide is the most preferred therapy. In addition to this medicines, which improve the blood cell count, may also be included for better results.
Once the small cell lung cancer is immune to this treatment at least after 8 months, you may opt for second type of chemotherapy usually for only a short time. The common drugs used as second type of chemotherapy include docetaxel, irinotecan, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, methotrexate, paclitaxel, topotecan, ifofamide, and cyclophosphamide. Sometimes radiation therapy also being practiced once the small cell lung cancer forms the metastasis either in bone or brain.
Signs of lung cancer are not found at the early stages of lung cancer. However it is better to identify the lung cancer at the early stages. Some of the signs of lung cancer are chronic cough, coughing up blood, wheezing, and chest pain, bouts of pneumonia or bronchitis and fever for no reason. If you happen to experience these signs of lung cancer it is better to consult your doctor and check whether you have lung cancer or not. If you are a person who is exposed to asbestos fibers, smoking, passive smoking, and air pollution then you are likely to get lung cancer if you experience the above mentioned signs of lung cancer. The signs of lung cancer are also found in other diseases hence it is better to find the cause for these signs and start the treatment for these symptoms. The environment in which you live plays an important role in getting these symptoms. Diagnosis of cancer can be done by examining the sputum or by chest x-ray and CT scans. Sometimes biopsy sample is taken with the help of bronchoscope and tested for lung cancer.
Statistics reveal that only about 15% of the lung cancer cases are detected at an early stage so that the cancer is eliminated. You should know that these cancerous cells grow in your body without even giving out any signs of cancer for years together. When you get to know the symptoms and when you see the symptoms in your body, you will be already in the advanced stage of lung cancer. The vocal cord is affected leading to hoarseness and this is one of the signs of lung cancer. Sometimes difficulty in swallowing is experienced if the esophagus is affected by the cancer. Some patients may experience pain in the shoulder also.
Pain in the bones is also a sign of lung cancer where it is in the metastasis stage. It would have spread to the bones from your lungs. During the metastasis stage if the cancer is spread to the brain then you might experience signs that are of neurological nature such as blurred vision, stroke, headaches and sometimes loss of sensation or numbness in some parts of the body. Production of hormone called adrenocorticotrophic is done by the cancer cell which leads to the production of more cortisol hormone by the adrenal glands. If you test the blood you would also find increased level of calcium in the bloodstream. These are also the signs of lung cancer. Such signs can be categorized as paraneoplastic symptoms. Signs like depression are also found in persons affected by lung cancer. Such signs are of psychological nature. General signs like weight loss or weakness or fatigue are also found in lung cancer patients. It is always better to consult your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms so that in case of cancer you get treatment at the early stages itself to eliminate it. Otherwise there is no point in going for treatment at an advanced where you will be treating cancer to prolong your life.
