How to tell you have lung cancer

The big picture Lung cancer is the top cause of cancer deaths in both men and women. But this wasn’t always the case. Prior to the widespread use of mechanical cigarette rollers, lung cancer was rare. Today, smoking causes nearly 9 out of 10 lung cancer deaths, while radon gas, pollution, and other things play […]

The big picture

Lung cancer is the top cause of cancer deaths in both men and women. But this wasn’t always the case. Prior to the widespread use of mechanical cigarette rollers, lung cancer was rare. Today, smoking causes nearly 9 out of 10 lung cancer deaths, while radon gas, pollution, and other things play a smaller role. Newly developed drugs provide new hope for those diagnosed today.

When smoking is the cause

Cigarettes are packed with cancer-causing chemicals. They also disarm the lungs’ natural defense system. The airways are lined with tiny hairs called cilia. To protect the lungs, they sweep out toxins, bacteria, and viruses. Tobacco smoke stops the cilia from doing their job. This lets the cancer-causing chemicals build up.

Symptoms

Lung cancer begins quietly. There are usually no symptoms or warning signs in the early stages. As it gets worse, you may notice:

A cough that won’t go away

Chest pain, especially during deep breaths

Wheezing or shortness of breath

Coughing up bloody phlegm

Fatigue

 Can you get checked?

A type of scan called spiral CT may pick up early lung cancers in some people, but it’s not clear whether it finds them early enough to save lives. 

It is recommended that heavy smokers ages 55-80 get a CT scan every year. The same goes for those who used to smoke a lot and quit less than 15 years ago.  

Diagnosis

If your doctor thinks you might have lung cancer — for instance, because you have a long-lasting cough or wheezing — you’ll get a chest X-ray or other imaging tests. You may also need to cough up phlegm for a sputum test. If either of these tests suggest that you could have cancer, you’ll probably need to get a biopsy.

 What is a biopsy?

Your doctor will take a small sample of the suspicious growth, usually with a needle, for examination under a microscope. By studying the sample, a pathologist can determine whether the tumor is lung cancer, and if so, what kind.

 Two main types

Small-cell lung cancer is more aggressive, meaning it can spread quickly to other parts of the body early in the disease. It is strongly tied to cigarette use and is rare in nonsmokers. Non-small-cell lung cancer grows more slowly and is more common. It’s responsible for almost 85% of all lung cancers.

 What’s the stage?

Staging describes how far someone’s cancer has spread. Small-cell lung cancer is divided into two stages: “Limited” means the cancer is confined to one lung and maybe nearby lymph nodes. “Extensive” means the cancer has spread to the other lung or beyond. Non-small-cell lung cancer is assigned a stage of I through IV, depending on how far it has spread.

Courtesy: WebMD