Lung cancer (also called – carcinoma of lungs) is a type of malignant tumor. It emerges from cells paving lungs and bronchi. Usually it takes years for this type of cancer to develop. But if a person gets this type of disease most likely other organs will be affected as well. Lung cancer is a really dangerous for a human, as it is hard to diagnose it and it might be too late to treat it. This disease contributes to the major part of deaths throughout the developed countries. Annually there are about 1 million cases of lung cancer around the world. In addition, according to statistics, carcinoma of the lung causes around 60-80% of lethal cases among cancer patients. Another set of observations proved that the right lung is affected by tumor more often than the left one.
If you check any statistics on lung cancer patient you would notice that there are much more male patients with lung cancer than female ones. The main reason for this is that women started smoking later than man. If we go back for thirty years statistics will show that around 66% of men was smoking comparing to 20% of women. But over the past years tendency has changed. According to scientific observations it takes about 30-40 years for the cancer to develop. So nowadays statics shows that lethal outcome among men and women caused by lung cancer is almost equal now. And the number of smoking women continues to grow; especially this harmful habit spreads out among young girls rapidly. Plus, the chances of getting carcinoma of the lung depend on the age as well. Men in the age of over sixty are in a greater danger of getting lung cancer than the ones in the age of thirty.
The majority of experts agree that there are three main factors that might lead to a deadly disease. The first one is smoking. It has been medically proven that cigarettes are the most dangerous provocateur of lung cancer. There are a lot of carcinogenic substances in tobacco smoke and their long impact on the epithelium of bronchi can lead to a malignant tumor. And another important point is that not only active smoking considered to be a threat, but a passive one as well.
Another cause of lung cancer is carcinogens: arsenic, beryllium, asbestos, chrome, etc. And the last but not the least is genetics. It’s a well-known tendency that uncharitable smokers do not always get lung cancer. This fact “gave birth” to a genetic theory that states that if the disease is running in a family, the risk of getting this type of cancer is much higher.
As it has been mentioned before, it is really hard to diagnose lung cancer, mainly due to the fact that early symptoms are non-specific and can be mixed up with some other diseases. If a person experiences cough, dyspnea, stethalgia, hoarseness, etc. this might be the first signs of lung cancer. Indirect signs are apathy, lethargy, periodic fever. If a patient failed to admit to a doctor during the first stage of cancer, following symptoms will appear: jaundice, neurological disorders, cardiac arrhythmias, bone pain, etc.. Also, there is a set of external symptoms of the cancer in case of disease progression, among them are: puffiness of the upper-body, neck and face, swollen lymph nodes, dull and pale skin and yellowish color of the whites of the eyes.
But symptoms may vary depending on the type of carcinoma. There are two classifications of lung cancer: anatomic and histological ones. Within an anatomic classification cancer is subdivided into two more categories: central and peripheral. In case of a central lung cancer, malignant cells develop in the main bronchi, while in case of peripheral – in the epithelium of a small bronchi and alveoli. When it comes to histological classification, there are also two big groups of cancer: a small cell and a non-small cell lung cancer.
Over the decades of lung cancer examination a number of ways of treatment as well as diagnoses have been developed. The whole process of medical examination starts from simple methods that each patient can undergo by himself. Usually the starting point is the x-ray screening. This is the easiest way of examination that gives a chance to discover malignant cells. The main drawback in this situation is that it is really complicated to determine the size and depth of the tumor. Next way of examination is a computed tomography. Its superiority over the x-ray screening is mainly in the principle of its operation – it examines each layer of the tissue separately and by this a chance of tumor detection on early stages increases. Another and more improved tool for detection of even tiny tumors is a magnetic resonance imaging. In a case earlier methods of examination discover or gave a reason to suspect that there is a lung cancer, bronchoscopy is a next step. This kind of examination foresees usage of a thin needle that is called a bronchoscope. It allows not only to diagnose the tumor, but also to check its sizes and structure as well as take samples for examination. If a surgical intervention is foreseen, this method is usually used for a better planning of the character of the surgery. If it happens that all the above mentioned methods failed to eliminate lung cancer diagnosis with a high level of certainty or determine its character, thoracotomy is prescribed as a final stage of medical examination. This is a surgery during which a chest is cut open and a doctor can see inside organs, take samples for laboratory analysis and perform therapeutic interventions.
Once lung cancer is diagnosed, the next and obvious step is to treat it. Treatment of this type of disease might be a really complicated task, mostly due to a late diagnosis, when it is not only enough to cut the tumor out, as the organism is already “covered” in metastases. The combination of surgical intervention, radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the medical world is considered to be the best possible treatment plan.
Surgery is the most radical and widespread method of treatment. But it is not cure-all as it has a number of contraindications. The first one is that once the tumor spreads out to the neighboring organs, it becomes impossible to remove it totally. In addition, once metastases are found in remote organs (bones, liver, brain) the surgery becomes an inexpedient step, as metastases anyway will give a patient not more than four or five more months of life. Another contraindication that comes to mind is the functional ability of cardiovascular, respiratory systems and diseases of internal organs that lead to lethal outcome of the surgery.
Radiotherapy is applied for non-surgical patients (the stage of cancer is non-surgical, there are contraindications for surgical intervention or in case the patient refuses by himself from surgery). Usually there is a pre-defined course of treatment that lasts for approximately 6-7 weeks. And as a final result, doctors promise to extend patient’s life for a couple of months.
Chemotherapy is usually prescribed for a patient who has a really late stage of cancer. Although this method doesn’t succeed in a complete cure, it prolongs patient’s life as well as improves its quality which is really important during the course of treatment. In order to achieve a positive result in this procedure a combination of 3 or 4 preparations is usually used.
But we all understand that it makes a life of each of us much easier if we do not suffer from one of the most complicated diseases in the world. So the best way is to stay on the safe side by following simple prophylactic rules. As it has been mentioned before, there are 3 main causes of lung cancer, as a result the best decision is to try to avoid or prevent them. For example, for those who smoke valuable contribution to their health is to quit smoking and for those who do not smoke – even not to attempt to start. Another precautionary measure is to try to eliminate carcinogens from your daily life. And the last but not the least, if you know that you are genetically predisposed to getting a lung cancer, it would be a wise decision to undergo annual medical examination that obligatory includes fluorography.
So as it can be seen from all the information provided above, lung cancer is a really complicated disease with a high level of lethality. As it might appear in different forms and types, symptoms might vary. But the worst part is that early symptoms of carcinoma can be easily confused with some other diseases and this can easily lead to a late diagnosis. Another important point worse mentioning is that due to the fact that there are 3 main causes of cancer, you shouldn’t be specifically uncharitable smoker to fall under the risk. So it seems like none of us is insured from getting this disease, despite the way we live. But as it always is, it’s better to keep the situation under control and follow prevention measures just to secure you, especially as it is not too complicated to have an annual examination and not to start smoking.
References:
Collins L. G., Haines C., Perkel R., and Enck R. E. (2007) Lung cancer: Diagnosis and
management. Retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/afp/2007/0101/p56.html
National Cancer Institute (2014) Lung cancer. Retrieved from:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/lungcancer.html
National Cancer Institute (2012) What you need to know about lung cancer. Retrieved from:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/lung/page2
Lung cancer alliance (2010) Lung cancer. Understanding and diagnosis. Retrieved from:
http://onebreath.org/document.doc?id=40
A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia (2013) Lung cancer. Retrieved from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004529/
