Lung cancer

[hawawi]

What is lung cancer


Lung cancer is an abnormal proliferation of lung cells which have the ability to spread to other organs of the body including the lymph glands, adrenal glands, brain, bone and liver. Nearly 90% of all lung cancers are caused by cigarette smoking. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States and there were an estimated 169,400 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed in 2001. It is responsible for almost 28% of the deaths from all cancers in the United States.

What are the warning signs

Warning signs associated with lung cancer include persistent cough, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight loss, chest pain, coughing up blood and recurrent bronchitis or pneumonia. Because some of these symptoms may not appear until the disease has advanced, early detection of lung cancer sometimes occurs incidentally during screening, diagnostic or routine x-rays and cat scans.

When should someone be tested

Individuals with the following conditions should be examined by a physician. Many diseases can cause these symptoms, but investigation of each symptom is indicated.

Chronic cough
Hoarseness
Coughing up blood
Weight loss or loss of appetite
Shortness of breath
Fever without a known reason
Repeated pneumonia or bronchitis
Chest pain
Abnormal chest x-ray



What tests may be ordered

Chest x-rays - A chest x-ray is often the first study ordered to evaluate a patient with a complaint of cough or shortness of breath. It allows a photographic image of the lungs to be checked for abnormalities.

CAT Scan - Computed tomography is a type of scanning where cross-sectional images of an area are performed to assess tumor size or possible spread. Typical areas scanned include the chest, head, abdomen and pelvis.

Bronchoscopy - Bronchoscopy is a procedure which allows direct visualization of the airways by your physician. After a numbing medication and sedation are provided, a special flexible tube is passed through the mouth or nose and into the airways where specimens can be taken, aiding in diagnosis.

Sputum Examination - With coughing, tumor cells can be released into the sputum. Collecting an early morning specimen can be very helpful in detecting abnormal cells.

PET Scan - The PET scan is a diagnostic tool used to aid in the assessment of tumors. A small dose of a chemical called a radionuclide combined with a sugar is injected into a small intravenous plastic tube in the arm. Because malignant tumors grow at a faster rate than normal tissue, they preferentially take up the sugar and therefore, appear abnormal on the scan.

Bone Scan - A bone scan is used to detect areas of bone growth, infection or tumor. This test may be ordered to detect evidence of spread of lung cancer to the bones.


What causes lung cancer

Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. 87% of lung cancer is caused by smoking. For men who began smoking in the 1900’s a significant increase in mortality rates from lung cancer was subsequently noted in the 1930’s. Similarly, women who began smoking in the 1940’s showed mortality rates from lung cancer which have increased progressively from the 1960’s.

The risk of developing lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked and the length of time spent smoking. The risk decreases each year after smoking has ceased.

Other causes of lung cancer include exposure to radon, asbestos, uranium and arsenic.


What are the different types of lung cancer

There are two major types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 25% of all lung cancers and exhibits rapid cell growth and spread. It is treated primarily with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Non-small cell cancer is much more common, accounting for 75% of all lung cancers and is treated primarily with surgery and radiotherapy. Non-small cell lung cancers consist of three major types: squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma. Of these three, squamous cell lung cancer is more responsive to radiation therapy.

How fast does it spread

The rate of lung cancer spread varies greatly with each individual and with cell type. However, tumor growth is typically seen over months as opposed to days or years.

How is lung cancer treated

Surgery remains the treatment of choice for individuals who can undergo resection of the cancer. Prompt evaluation and diagnosis is encouraged for individuals with abnormal symptoms. Other types of treatment include chemotherapy which involves receiving medication into the blood stream that attacks the cancer cells in all parts of the body. Another treatment uses radiation therapy to kill the tumor cells. Nowadays, tumors can be precisely targeted with radiation.

How does it spread to other parts of the body

Cancer cells are abnormal and divide without control or order. These cells can invade and destroy the tissue around them, break away from a malignant tumor and can enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. This process is called metastasizing and is how cancer spreads from the original tumor to form new tumors in other parts of the body.

[الريفي]

thx alot about that subject ,,,,,,

yateik alllf afyaih

[الحب الصغير]

There are several kinds of lung cancer, but only one – known as bronchial carcinoma – is common. It accounts for 99 per cent of cases and is nearly always caused by smoking. Only about 3 in 1000 cases of bronchial carcinoma occur in lifelong non-smokers.
Smoking damages the cells that line the bronchi, and many scientists believe that the damaged cells represent an early stage of cancer. Some of these cells may gradually form a wart-like tumour, which is the starting point of bronchial carcinoma. As the tumour grows, it spreads into the lungs, and the cancer cells often get into the bloodstream and are carried to other parts of the body such as the brain, liver, bone and skin.

What are the symptoms?
The first symptom is usually a cough, nearly always an increase in the usual smoker’s cough. The disease is closely associated with chronic bronchitis, and more than half the people who get lung cancer have had bronchitis for years before cancer develops. Along with the cough, there is generally some sputum, which may be bloodstained. There may be a little breathlessness. Often, you will have chest pains, either sharp (and becoming sharper when you take a deep breath) or dull and persistent. And you may sometimes wheeze when you breathe out.
When lung cancer cells have spread to other organs, the first symptoms may be caused by the secondary cancers (called metastases). This happens in about 1 in 8 cases, and it is the secondary cancer that alerts the doctor to the primary cancer of the lung. The symptoms of secondary cancer depend on where the cancer cells have settled. If they are in the brain, the sufferer may get headaches, feel mentally confused or have an epileptic fit or a stroke. In the bone, the symptoms are pain, swelling or even fracture; in the skin, cyst-like swellings appear; in the liver, the symptoms are likely to be indigestion, dyspepsia and later jaundice.
How common is the problem?
Bronchial carcinoma is the most common form of cancer in the Western world, with the highest death rate in the UK, where it causes 1 in every 18 deaths. At present, it affects more men than women, probably because lung cancer takes a long time to develop and men smoked much more heavily than women 30–50 years ago. There has recently been a drop in the incidence of the disease among males and a rise in the incidence among females. The probable reason is that men have been smoking less than they used to, and women more. In fact, statistics indicate that lung cancer now seems likely to surpass breast cancer as the main killer cancer among women.
Your chances of having the disease vary according to the number of cigarettes you smoke. Light smokers are 10 times as susceptible as non-smokers; heavy smokers are 25 times as susceptible. If cancer has not already started to develop, then as soon as you stop smoking, the danger begins to decrease. After 5 years of non-smoking, you can feel nearly as secure as if you had never started. If, however, you spend most of your time in an atmosphere heavily contaminated with tobacco smoke, your risks are increased by this so-called “passive” smoking.
What are the risks?
If lung cancer is discovered early – as soon as the symptoms develop, or by a routine chest X-ray examination – the affected portion of the lung can sometimes be removed surgically. Around one-quarter of patients treated surgically survive for 5 years or longer; unfortunately, however, in most people, lung cancer is first diagnosed when the disease is already too advanced for surgery to be possible. Smokers are also at risk of early death from other diseases associated with smoking (for example, coronary heart disease, stroke or chronic bronchitis).
What should be done?
Stop smoking now, even if you do not have a smoker’s cough. The tumour takes years to develop, and removing the cause may slow or even halt the process. If you are experiencing symptoms, such as worsening of smoker’s cough, chest pains and blood in the sputum, see your doctor, who will listen to your chest with a stethoscope and will probably arrange for a chest X-ray examination. You may then be referred to a chest specialist, who will probably use a bronchoscope to search for cancerous growths in your bronchi.
What is the treatment?
Self-help Give up smoking now.
Professional help Surgical removal of the cancer offers the best possible results, but about two-thirds of cases of bronchial carcinoma are too advanced for total removal when the chest is opened. Treatment by radiotherapy slows down the progress of the cancer and can relieve the symptoms for months or sometimes years.
Another possibility is treatment by cytotoxic drugs, which act against cancer cells. This form of treatment is similar to methods that have proved effective in cancers such as Hodgkin’s disease and leukaemia. One or more courses of treatment may be given, each lasting several weeks. The side-effects of the drugs are unpleasant but most patients treated find their symptoms are relieved and the progress of the disease is halted. The remission may last months or sometimes several years but permanent cure of the cancer is rare.
The choice of which treatment is most suitable for an individual depends on several factors: the extent of the disease, laboratory examination of a specimen of tumour (biopsy) and the person’s general health. Discuss the possibilities with your doctor. Although a diagnosis of lung cancer is serious, you should not view it as an inescapable death sentence.

[hawawi]

thank u AL REFI & SMALL LOVE
i hop this subject was usefull for u thank u small love 4 ur additional subject

[الدكتوره]

THANK YOU very much and i think you deserve word s greater than mine
it is really very useful subject i will also use it as an answer of my home work.thank you again
and sorry for being late

[البارقي10]

الله يكفينا شره يارب
وجميع المسلمين

وشاكر لك موضوعك الرائع

[عاشق S3]

وأيضاً السنه الماضيه توفى أكثر من 45 شخص بسبب سرطان الرئه
وطبعاً المسؤل الأول والداء العضال (((((((التدخين)))))))