Lung cancer is a condition of compiling tissue cells in the lungs to grow unusually fast, causing tumors to form. Your lungs help you and provide oxygen throughout your body. According to WHO, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer. Lung cancer causes the body's inability to work, causing a poor quality of life.
There are several types of lung cancer, but the most common types are named according to the size of cells in cancerous tumors.
- Small cell lung cancer: this condition means that cancer cells look small under a microscope. This condition is very rare, about 1 in 8 people with lung cancer have small cell cancer. This type of lung cancer can grow and develop rapidly.
- Non-small cell lung cancer: this cancer is small cell lung. More people have this lung cancer (around 7 out of 8). This condition does not develop. Small cell lung cancer.
The less common types of non-small cell lung cancer are: pleomorphic, carcinoid tumor, salivary gland carcinoma, and unclassified carcinoma.
Signs and symptoms of lung cancer?
Most symptoms of lung cancer occur in the lungs, but you may also experience other symptoms in your body. This is because the cancer has spread (in medical terms called metastasis) to other parts of the body. Symptom severity is also different. Some may not even feel symptoms or just feel tired in general. Some of the symptoms you should know are:
- Chest discomfort or pain
- Cough that does not disappear or worsens over time
- Respiratory problems
- Wheezing
- Blood in phlegm (mucus coughing from the lungs)
- Hoarseness
- Swallowing problems
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss for no known reason
- Feeling very tired
- Inflammation or blockage in the lungs
- Swelling or enlargement of lymph nodes in the chest in the lung area.
Lung cancer is a serious condition that can cause fatal complications. Lung cancer can cause complications, such as:
- Hard to breathe
- Coughing up blood
- Pain that can be caused by advanced lung cancer
- Fluid in the chest (pleural effusion)
- Cancer that spreads to other parts of the body (metastasis)
- There may be signs and symptoms not mentioned above. If you have concerns about a particular symptom, consult your doctor.
What are the usual tests for lung cancer?
To find out if you have lung cancer, your doctor will evaluate your symptoms and do a physical examination, such as listening to your breathing, to see if there may be a tumor in your chest. Then they will ask about your medical history, if you smoke or if your family smokes. They might also ask about your work environment to see if you are exposed to cigarette smoke or other poisons that can harm your lungs.
To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor will request several tests. Tests may only be imaging tests (spiral CT scans, PET scans) to see the lungs, or laboratory tests called sputum cytology to identify tumors. The imaging test will show with a photo whether you have a tumor, while sputum cytology will examine a sample of cough mucus from the lungs that has cancer cells. You can ask your doctor to explain the results of this test to you if you don't know how to read the test results.
For the most accurate results, the doctor may request a biopsy. A biopsy means the doctor will take a small sample of lung tissue to see under a microscope whether to have cancer cells. There are several methods for obtaining samples:
- Bronchoscopy. Use a thin tube through the mouth or nose to the lungs to take samples.
- Needle aspiration. Insert a small needle through the skin into your chest to take small cell samples. Your doctor will numb your chest area so that it doesn't cause pain.
- Thoracentesis. Also use a needle, but instead of taking cells from your lungs, the doctor will take the fluid that surrounds the lungs to check for cancer cells.
- Thoracotomy. This is a major operation to diagnose lung cancer, often only used if there are no other diagnostic methods and treatments that work.