The symptoms of lung cancer include:
- Chronic cough.
- Worsening breathlessness.
- Weight loss.
- Excessive fatigue.
- Severe pain in the chest or elsewhere, (possibly from the cancer spreading to a bone).
The most significant symptoms of lung cancer is coughing up blood or haemoptysis. This can sometimes occur as an early warning sign of a cancer.
Sadly, most lung cancer is diagnosed too late for curative treatment to be possible. In over half of people with lung cancer the disease has already spread (metastasized) at the time of diagnosis.
Others investigation is a chest X-ray. If a lung tumor is present, it needs to be at least a centimeter in diameter to be detectable by an ordinary X-ray. However, by the time a tumor has reached this size the original cell, which became cancerous has divided (or doubled) 36 times. As death usually results after 40 such cell divisions, it is clear that lung cancer is a disease that is usually detected late in its natural course.
Others western inspection, bronchoscope - is direct inspection of the inside of the breathing tubes with a thin fibre-optic instrument using local anesthetic and is the best test for tumors in the main bronchi (air passages) in the centre of the chest.
Depending on the site of the cancer, a biopsy will be obtained either by a bronchoscopy or a needle biopsy. Needle biopsy is better for cancers near the periphery of the lungs (ie closer to the ribs than the centre of the chest), beyond the reach of the bronchoscope.
Usually, a sample of sputum - the material coughed up from the respiratory tract - will also be examined for cancer cells and this can avoid the need for biopsy.
A CT scan provides more information about how much the tumor may have spread.
There are three main types of lung cancer, based on their appearance when examined under the microscope by a pathologist:
- Small cell carcinoma
- Squamous cell carcinoma
- Adenocarcinoma.
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