What is lung cancer ?

Cancer is the diesis that is caused by uncontrolled and uneven cell growth in the tissues of an organ. In case of lung cancer, the cells of the lungs grow uncontrollably. Sometimes, the growth may pass beyond the lungs because of the possibilities of having metastasis. The metastasis is the foray of close tissues of the lung. Most of the primary lung cancers are resulting by the epithelial cells and known as carcinomas of the lung. The lung cancer has similar sings like other lung related dieses and asthma, with addition of some cancer like symptoms.

The lung cancer is the most common type of cancer for most people and also it has the maximum death rate among all the cancers. In the year of 2004, about 1.3 million people die from lung cancer from all over the world and the number increases each year. There are two major types of lung cancers which is very important to diagnosis as the medication varies over the types. Most of the lung cancer patients die soon after the diesis outbreaks. The rate of five year survival is only 14 percent.

Types of lung cancer

There are mainly two types of lung cancers: small cell and non small cell lung cancer. The most of the lung cancers are carcinomas. They are grown from epithelial cells. The first type of the lung cancer is not very widely spread and only about 17 percent lung cancer patients have this type of cancer. But the later one has more than 80 percent of the total number of victims. The division of these two types is very important for treatment and clinical management of the patient.

In case of non small cell lung cancer, the carcinomas have similar management and prognosis. This type of cancer is divided into three categories and they are large cell lung carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell lung carcinoma. About 25% of lung cancers are squamous cell lung carcinoma. This type of cancer starts near a central bronchus in most cases. At the center of the tumor, a necrosis and hollow cavity are found. This cancer has much slower rate of growth than most other types. About 40 percent of the lung cancer is the adenocarcinoma. The birth place of this cancer is the lung tissue and smoking is the most likely reason for adenocarcinoma.

The second type of lung cancer, the small cell lung carcinoma is not as common as the non small cell cancer. The cancer cell usually grows faster near the primary and secondary bronchi in case of small lung cancer. The patient grows endocrine syndrome as the cells have neurosecretory granules. This cancer grows sensitive to chemotherapy and gets into a prognosis very fast. Smoking is the most severe reason for this cancer.

Beside these regular types of lung cancers, there might be secondary cancers where other cancers can spread thorough the lung. For example, the breast cancer can enlarge and spread to the lung. This secondary type of lung cancer usually occurs to the children. Some other cancers of different body parts that attack the lung are the liver, bone, adrenal gland and the brain.

Symptoms and signs of lung cancer

The symptoms of lung cancer have similarities with some other lung dieses and mostly with asthma. The most common symptoms of the lung cancer are: hemoptysis (coughing up blood), dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), fatigue, dyspnea (shortness of breath), dysphonia (hoarse voice), and loss of appetite, chronic coughing, wheezing, change in regular coughing pattern, cachexia (weight loss), chest pain or pain in the abdomen etc.

The breathing trouble is very common as the cancer grows and blocks the airways. This might be very severe as it may lead to accretion of secretions. Sometimes the cancer can lead blood to the airway and in such case; the blood comes out with coughing. Paraneoplastic phenomena are very common for the lung cancer patients and it might cause Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome. This syndrome weakens the muscles. The phenomena can also lead to hypercalcemia. Pancoast tumors are placed on the top of the lung. These tumors can attack the body part that affects the sympathetic nervous system. This might change the sweating patterns as well as causing the eye muscle problems. Another side effect of such condition is the weakness in the muscles of the hand. This occurs because of the attack of the brachial plexus.

Sometimes the signs of the lung cancer are not specified. In many occasions, the cancer might spread through the body even before showing any sign. And in such cases, the treatment starts a long time after the problem is found. Many times, the lung cancer is found during the diagnosis of other diesis.

Causes of lung cancer

The main cause of lung cancer is the smoking. Almost 90 percent of the total death by lung cancer is a result of cigarette smoking. In case of non smokers, the rate of death by lung cancer is only 1.3 percent for men and only 1.4 percent for women. Only about 10 percent of the total lung cancer patients do not smoke. The chance of getting lung cancer increases each time a smoker smokes and if he stopped smoking, the possibilities of getting cancer decrease. Besides smoking, be near a smoker while he is smoking is another cause of getting lung cancer.

Other than the smoking, the exposure to radon gas and asbestos is very crucial for getting lung cancer. In some cases, virus can cause this cancer.